Inspired to take up the sport by his aunt, a former national level shuttler, Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth has been steadily making progress and establishing his name in the sport. The Andhra shuttler underwent various challenges to reach this phase of his career. Famously said, every cloud has a silver lining, similarly Sai Praneeth eventually got close to the silver lining because of his hard work and persistence.
During his school days, reaching practice involved an 18km commute along with a four-hour train journey, but Sai was determined and focused and did not let these challenges become excuses. His hard work paid off in the U13 and U16 tournaments and he was one of the first players of the Gopichand Badminton Academy. Within 2 years of training under Pullela Gopichand, Sai Praneeth had his first significant achievement at the age of 18 as he won bronze at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Mexico.
2013 is the most memorable year for right-handed Sai Praneeth. He stunned the world by defeating Taufik Hidayat at his home ground in his farewell match. He won 15-21,21-12,21-17 against the 2004 Olympic Gold medallist in the first round of the Indonesia Open and thereby ruined the farewell of Taufik Hidayat. Barely a few days later, he upstaged the then World no. 4, Hu Yun of Hong Kong at the Singapore Open.
In 2016 All England’s Open opening round, the tenacious Sai Praneeth got the better of Lee Chong Wei in straight games. His ranking was revolving around the 30s in the same year as he ended the season winning gold at the South Asian Games and his first-ever BWF Grand Prix title at the Canada Open.
Sai won his maiden Superseries title at the 2017 Singapore Open. In doing so, he became the fourth Indian after Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhi, and Srikanth Kidambi to win a Superseries title. With another gold at the Thailand Open, his ranked climbed up from 36th to 16th on the BWF rankings table-an an impressive leap of 20 places at the end of the year.
After reaching the quarterfinals of the- Indian Open, Australian Open, the BWF World Championships, and the Syed Modi International, his ranking climbed up four places from 16th to 12th in 2018.
He scripted history in 2019 by winning bronze at the BWF World Championships in Basel Switzerland. Consequently, he became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a World Championship medal after Prakash Padukone.
After coming painfully close to landing an Olympic spot at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the time has finally arrived for Sai Praneeth. He is the only Indian male shuttler sitting in the direct qualification range (top 16). He ranks 13th on the qualification list and hopes to make a cut through the Olympics.
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