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BWF World Championships: Indian medal winners in badminton’s marquee event

Over the years Indian shuttlers have won a medal at the BWF World Championships with the country's stars winning 14 medals at the event starting from 1983 and one most recently in 2023.

After legendary Prakash Padukone opened the account in 1983 when he became the first ever Indian shuttler to win a medal at the event, India failed to win a medal at the marquee event till 2011.

Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu among Indian medallists at BWF World Championships

The women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa combined to win a bronze, which ended the country's long wait of nearly three decades for a medal in the world championships.

Since Gutta-Ponnappa won the women's doubles bronze, India have won at least one medal in six straight editions of the event taking their overall tally to 12 including the lone gold won by PV Sindhu in the 2019 edition.

BWF World Championships Winners: Full list of championsBWF World Championships Winners: Full list of champions

In fact, Sindhu, who has won two silvers and as many bronze in addition to her gold, has won five of the 10 medals. Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal has won a medal twice, while B Sai Praneeth has won a bronze once.

In 2021, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth won a medal each in the men's singles event with the latter becoming the first Indian men's shuttler to win a silver medal at the World Championships.

In 2022, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became first men's doubles pair from India to win a medal at the World Championships when the pair won bronze. In 2023, HS Prannoy landed the 14 medal for India at the marquee event with a men's singles bronze.

India Medal Winners at the BWF World Championships

Year Medallist(s) Event Medal Host City
2019 PV Sindhu Women's Singles Gold Basel, Switzerland
2015 Saina Nehwal Women's Singles Silver Jakarta, Indonesia
2017 PV Sindhu Women's Singles Silver Glasgow, Scotland
2018 PV Sindhu Women's Singles Silver Nanjing, China
2021 Kidambi Srikanth Men's Singles Silver Huelva, Spain
1983 Prakash Padukone Men's Singles Bronze Copenhagen, Denmark
2011 Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa Women's Doubles Bronze London, England
2013 PV Sindhu Women's Singles Bronze Guangzhou, China
2014 PV Sindhu Women's Singles Bronze Copenhagen, Denmark
2017 Saina Nehwal Women's Singles Bronze Glasgow, Scotland
2019 Sai Praneeth B Men's Singles Bronze Basel, Switzerland
2021 Lakshya Sen Men's Singles Bronze Huelva, Spain
2022 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty Men's Doubles Bronze Tokyo, Japan
2023 HS Prannoy Men's Singles Bronze Copenhagen, Denmark

Now, lets take a look at Indian shuttlers performance in the medal matches at the BWF World Championships from Prakash Padukone's first to Sindhu's gold, double silver and bronze to the latest Satwik-Chirag pair's history-making bronze:

1983 - Prakash Padukone (Men's Singles)

The legendary shuttler won the bronze medal and became the first Indian to win a medal at the event. While he defeated Luan Jin in the quarterfinal via straight games, Padukone lost the semis to Indonesia's Icuk Sugiarto in a closely fought match.

2011 - Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa (Women's Doubles)

The doubles pair Gutta and Ponnappa are the only doubles pair from the country to win a medal at the event. The duo also started off India's continuous medal wins since they won the bronze in 2011.

The Indian pair lost to Chinese duo of Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei in the semis of the women's doubles event and had to settle for a bronze, which happens to be the only medal for Indian women's doubles at the event.

2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 - PV Sindhu (Women's Singles)

The only gold medalist of the country, Sindhu was crowned champion in the 2019 edition after she defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games to seal the crown.

Before that Sindhu had won a silver in 2017 when she lost to Okuhara and once again silver when she lost to Spain's Carolina Marin. Apart from the two silvers, Sindhu also won a bronze at the 2013 and 2014 world championships.

2015, 2017 - Saina Nehwal (Women's Singles)

Saina created history by becoming the first ever Indian to win a silver medal in the 2015 edition when she lost to Spain's Carolina Marin. She once again was on the podium in the next edition in 2017, when she settled for bronze after defeat to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara.

2019 - B Sai Praneeth (Men's Singles)

Sai Praneeth became the second men's shuttler from the country to win the medal at the marquee event when he won a bronze in the 2019 edition. He settled for bronze after defeat to Japan's Kento Momota in the men's singles semifinals.

2021 - Lakshya Sen (Men's Singles)

Lakshya Sen, who became the youngest Indian to reach the BWF World Championships, secured a bronze medal. And the Indian was one win away from a final berth, but lost a hard-fought battle against compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the semifinals.

2021 - Kidambi Srikanth (Men's Singles)

Kidambi Srikanth created history by becoming the first Indian men's shuttler to reach the final of the BWF World Championships. The 28-year-old Indian, however, had to settle for silver after a defeat Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in the summit clash, which ended 21-15, 22-20.

2022 - Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (Men's Doubles)

Satwik-Chirag pair continued their rich vein of form and went on to become the first Indian men's doubles team to win a medal at the World Championships, by reaching the semifinal.

The Commonwealth Games 2022 gold winners, however, had to settle for bronze in Badminton World Championships following their semifinal loss to Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

2023 - HS Prannoy (Men's Singles)

Prannoy, who had landed a BWF World Tour title earlier in the year, continued his good run in the World Championships, stunning two former World Champions Loh Kean Yew and Viktor Axelsen to reach the semifinal, which guaranteed him his first BWC title.

The Malaysia Masters 2023 champion, however, had to settle for bronze after he went down fighting to third seed and last year's runner up Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semifinal match.

Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 11:47 [IST]
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