Can Sai Praneeth Make a Mark in His Olympics Debut?

Sai Praneeth is the only Indian male singles player to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

(Photo: The Quint)

Seven Indian badminton players competed at the Rio Olympics but due to cancellation of multiple qualification events in 2020 and 2021, only four players will be making the journey to the Tokyo Olympics.

Among them is Rio silver medallist PV Sindhu, men's singles player Sai Praneeth and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.

Born into a humble family in Hyderabad on October 10, 1992, Sai Praneeth took to badminton when he was eight, inspired by his aunt, a former national level player who used to play with former All England Open champion Pullela Gopichand.

Praneeth used to travel around 18 kilometres a day and then follow it up with another four-hour long train journey for training during his school-days. His talent impressed Gopichand who picked him for the first batch of trainees at his academy which opened in 2008.

His first major achievement came at the age of 18 when he clinched a bronze medal at the BWF Junior World Championships in Mexico in 2010. With every tournament, he improved his game and climbed up the rankings.

In 2013, he shocked badminton legend Taufik Hidayat at the Indonesia Open. The Indian shuttler won the thriller to spoil Indonesian's party at his farewell event in front of home fans. At the Singapore Open Superseries event the same year, Sai Praneeth defeated the then world No. 4 Hu Yun of Hong Kong.

However, the young player's impressive march in the international arena was suddenly halted by a shin injury which sidelined him for two years.

He made a comeback in 2015. The next year saw him beat three-time Olympic silver-medallist Lee Chong Wei at the All England Open. He then bagged gold at the South Asian Games and won maiden Grand Prix title at the Canada Open. The series of victories helped him break into top-30 in the singles ranking.

Sai Praneeth continued his good show to clinch his first-ever BWF Superseries title at the Singapore Open in 2017. After Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, he became only the fourth Indian to win a BWF Superseries title. The next year saw him reaching the quarter-finals of India Open, Australian Open, Syed Modi International and the BWF World Championships.

He then started focusing on further improving his technique to win crunch games against top-quality opponents. The effort yielded the results as he clinched a bronze medal at the 2019 BWF World Championships. Sai Praneeth became only the second Indian men's shuttler to achieve the feat. Legendary Prakash Padukone won the title in 1983.

Things will be tricky for Sai Praneeth in Tokyo as he has been drawn in Group D which also has All England Open semi-finalist Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands. He is slated to face Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus in Round of 16 and, if successful, will meet top seed and home favourite Kento Momota in the quarters.