Indian Badminton Player Rankings

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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by gbelday »

I don't have a whole lot of hopes on Saurabh and Anand. I could be wrong but this is based on watching them play just on a few occasions. I had big hopes on Thulasi but she hasn't kept up!
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by rajitghosh »

Here are a few all time high rankings, restricted to top 25 only.
Prakash Padukone:1
Saina Nehwal:2
Nandu Natekar: 4 ?
Gopichand: 5
Jwala Gutta/ V Diju: 6
Parupalli Kashyap: 6
Ami Ghia: 7
PV Sindhu: 9
Srikanth Kidambi: 10
Chetan Anand: 10
Jwala Gutta/ Ashwini Ponappa: 13
Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas: 13
Aparna Popat: 16
Vimal Kumar: 19
Gurusai Dutt: 19
Arvind Bhat:20
Ajay Jayaram: 21, just misses top 20.
Anup Shridhar: 24
I could not find the highest rankings of Syed Modi while Madhumita Bisht reached a highest of 28 only.

HS Prannoy may break into top 20 soon, currently at 24.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by prasen9 »

Rajit,

Thank you very much.

Regards,
Prasen
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by jayakris »

Yes, thanks a lot Rajit. I also spent a little time today trying to find what Syed Modi's best world ranking was. Couldn't find it. But I learned that his name was actually Syed Mehdi, and that he had chosen to stick with it after somebody mistyped it and "modi'fied his name at a boy's tournament.... So, I guess our PM can't claim any fame from being distantly related to a great badminton player! :)
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by prasen9 »

Kashyap's high was last year, I presume. He did win the Commonwealth gold this year. What has happened to him? He is 28. But, still. Can't we hope to have two top players?
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by sameerph »

A bit surprised that Ami Ghia was ranked as high as no. 7. I had thought that Aparna Popat was the most accomplished women badminton player before Saina came along. It seems Ami Ghia was even better.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by PKBasu »

In the 1980s, when Syed Modi and Madhumita Goswami were in their prime, India's external balances were in their worst shape -- and the rupee kept depreciating rapidly -- so these two didn't play much outside India. Madhumita only had one or two seasons of serious international play (1992 being one of them, when she made her career-high), and Syed Modi perhaps 2-3 (including 1982, when he won the Commonwealth Games gold, beating Nick Yates in the final; the Malaysian Razif Sidek won the bronze, and was later to become one of the doubles legends of the sport).

Madhumita, of course, ended Ami Ghia's reign as national champion (just as Syed Modi ended Prakash Padukone's), and Madhumita then won 7 national singles titles in successive years (plus another singles title later). Had she lived in a different era, she would have achieved a ranking in the 10-15 range -- she did make the last-16 of the All-England championship, then the most important badminton tournament in the world.

Syed Modi's brutal murder in 1988 (when he was just 26) cut off what might have been a world-beating career, although his marriage to Ameeta Kulkarni had already led to a decline in his game in 1986-88 -- as Ameeta was having an affair with Sanjay Singh, the Raja of Amethi who had been Sanjay (and later Rajiv) Gandhi's key political lieutenant in his electoral constituency.
Both Syed and Madhumita came from small towns (the former was from a place close to Chauri Chaura near Gorakhpur in UP, and the latter from Jalpaiguri in north Bengal), and that (apart from the foreign exchange constraint) may also have limited their international forays.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by prasen9 »

But, the rupee did not depreciate that much. I think in 1989, it was still Rs. 13 for a dollar. By 1991, things were much different. Maybe they could not raise that much money or maybe the government paid for others before and was not in a shape to support them.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by prasen9 »

Now the Wikipedia site shows Modi's best rankings to be World #12. It is not sourced with a credible reference. I asked someone who used to maintain a site with rankings and he said that I should contact the badminton world federation who may have got the records from the now-defunct IBF. So, for now, the best we know is #12.

When I started following sports, we had just won a hockey Olympic medal, Prakash Padukone, Ramesh Krishnan, P.T. Usha, a cricket world cup, a cricket world championship, both abroad, etc. I thought we were going to get better in these sports. Now, we do have better Olympic hauls, but, none in these sports have reached the heights of my childhood heroes as Prakash, Ramesh, and Usha. We have won another worldcup but we are superb only at home in cricket. Perhaps Anju George has a legitimate claim, but, Usha's utter domination of multiple events at the Asian stage leaves her ahead in my mind. As I grow old, I still have hopes that India will get better and some stars brighter than the stars of my childhood will emerge in these sports.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by jaydeep »

Our 7 male players in top-50 singles ranking ... Srikanth is a find of year for us but next year he need to show consistent performance to remain in top-10 rankings ... Prannoy is also showing rapid improvement ... I am hoping injury free Guru can be in top-15 ... Other hand Anand and Sourabh are stagnant.

In women's singles Saina is showing vast improvement in her overall game after poor 2013 but in 2014 Sindhu fail to show improvement ... All over year she was inconsistent ... Thulasi is showing steady progress but she still need to travel long journey.

In doubles only re-united pair of Ashwini-Jwala starting to show some promise ... Other pairs are far behind though I am hoping improve performance by our young male pairs of Manu Attri-B. Sumeeth Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Akshay Dewalkar in 2015 ... But in mixed doubles currently we don't have a single proper pair.

2014 Year-end rankings

Men's Singles
4 Srikanth Kidambi
16 Parupalli Kashyap
21 H. S. Prannoy
39 B. Sai Praneeth
40 Sourabh Varma
43 R. M. V. Gurusaidutt
45 Anand Pawar

Women's Singles
4 Saina Nehwal
11 P. V. Sindhu
40 P. C. Thulasi

Men's Doubles
38 Manu Attri / B. Sumeeth Reddy
40 Pranaav Jerry Chopra / Akshay Dewalkar

Women's Doubles
24 Jwala Gutta / Ashwini Ponnappa
47 Pradnya Gadre / N. Sikki Reddy

Mixed Doubles
51 Ashwini Ponnappa / Tarun Kona
52 Aparna Balan / Arun Vishnu
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by Sin Hombre »

How long was Padukone at the #1 ranking?

Next week will be Saina's best chance to get the #1 ranking yet. She has and will never be the dominant player in her discipline but to be called a former world #1 once she hangs up her boots would a very pleasant feeling indeed.
prasen9 wrote:Now the Wikipedia site shows Modi's best rankings to be World #12. It is not sourced with a credible reference. I asked someone who used to maintain a site with rankings and he said that I should contact the badminton world federation who may have got the records from the now-defunct IBF. So, for now, the best we know is #12.

When I started following sports, we had just won a hockey Olympic medal, Prakash Padukone, Ramesh Krishnan, P.T. Usha, a cricket world cup, a cricket world championship, both abroad, etc. I thought we were going to get better in these sports. Now, we do have better Olympic hauls, but, none in these sports have reached the heights of my childhood heroes as Prakash, Ramesh, and Usha. We have won another worldcup but we are superb only at home in cricket. Perhaps Anju George has a legitimate claim, but, Usha's utter domination of multiple events at the Asian stage leaves her ahead in my mind. As I grow old, I still have hopes that India will get better and some stars brighter than the stars of my childhood will emerge in these sports.
I think it is harder to think of sportsmen and women as heroes as you get older. The last decade has been a lot brighter for Indian sports after the mediocrity of the 90s and I hope it will only get better as the nation grows and develops.

We have never produced a genuine world-renowned sportsperson in our entire history and I think as a sporting nation, that might be a turning point when that happens.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by Dinakaran »

How about Mary Kom, Deepika Kumari?
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by sameerph »

Yes and what about Vishwanathan Anand unless you too do not consider chess as sport ? And if you are not excluding cricket, Sachin Tendullar would also fit the description of world-renowned sportsperson.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by prasen9 »

I am not talking of world renowned players. I am talking about world champions or in Olympic Sports Olympic champions. Yes, we have a lot of Olympic champions now than before. Yes, Sachin is a world champion but that was only at home. I value the '83 win more than the last win. So, I value that team more. Sachin's teams failed to win a WC abroad.
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Re: Indian Badminton Player Rankings

Post by rajitghosh »

With Saina becoming No.1, it may be interesting to open a thread on all Indian sportsmen who became No.1 in their sport. I don't think too many names would appear. I can only think of Prakash, Leander and Mahesh (in doubles) and the great Vishy Anand. I am not sure of sports like shooting, wrestling or boxing though. Of course cricket has rankings for batsmen, bowlers and all rounders and a few Indians have been No.1 there. Outside of these sports I don't think there is anything worth a mention. I hope one day Sania Mirza can become No.1 in doubles.
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