Badminton in India
Badminton is a popular sport in India. It is the second most played sport in India after cricket. Badminton in India is managed by Badminton Association of India.
Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi, and Pusarla Venkata Sindhu are ranked amongst top-10 in current BWF rankings. Prakash Padukone was the first player from India to achieve world no. 1 spot in the game and after him Srikanth Kidambi made it to the top spot as male player for the second time in April 2018 and Saina Nehwal is the first female player from India to achieve World no. 1 spot in April 2015. The most successful doubles player from India is Jwala Gutta, who is the only Indian to have been ranked in the top-10 of two categories. She peaked at no. 6 with Valiyaveetil Diju in mixed doubles and at no. 10 with Ashwini Ponnappa in women's doubles. Other successful players include Aparna Popat, Pullela Gopichand, Syed Modi, Chetan Anand, Parupalli Kashyap, Prannoy Kumar, Ashwini Ponnappa, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and N. Sikki Reddy.
History
Padukone and Gopichand both won the All England Open in 1980 and 2001 respectively, making them the only Indians to ever win the prestigious title. Nehwal won the bronze medal in the individual women's competition at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the first for the country in badminton, and in the next edition in Rio 2016 Pusarla won the 2nd medal in badminton for India, winning a silver in the Women's singles. India has won medals at the BWF World Championships as well, with Padukone winning in 1982. The doubles pairing of Gutta and Ponnappa became the first women to win a medal when they won the bronze in 2011. Pusarla won consecutive bronze medals at 2013 and 2014 editions. Nehwal won a silver at 2015 Championships.Next, Pusarla won silver at 2017 and 2018 consecutive editions. Saina Nehwal won bronze in 2017. Pusarla won Gold at 2019 BWF World Championships and become First Indian to finish top of the podium. B. Sai Praneeth become medal winner in men's singles after 36 years. He clinched bronze in 2019 edition so India first time win medals in two different categories in same BWF Badminton championship. India never returned empty handed in world championship since 2011. Saina is the only gold medalist for India in BWF World Junior Championships, won in 2008, where as Pusarla and Lakshya Sen are the only gold medalists in Badminton Asia Junior Championships in their respective category for the country, won in 2012 and 2018.
| Player Name | Discipline | Best ranking |
| P. V. Sindhu | Women Singles | 2 |
| Srikanth Kidambi | Men's Singles | 1 |
| Saina Nehwal | Women's Singles | 1 |
| Jwala Gutta and V. Diju | Mixed Doubles | 6 |
| Prannoy Kumar | Men's Singles | 8 |
| Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa | Women's Doubles | 10 |
Current ranking
Men's singles
Women's singles
Summer Olympics
Former notable players
- Prakash Padukone
- Syed Modi
- Pullela Gopichand
- Chetan Anand
- Aparna Popat
- U. Vimal Kumar
- Sanave Thomas