A historic day for Indian badminton in the Asian Games 2018

Saina Nehwal created history in the 2018 Asian Games by becoming the first Indian female shuttler to win an individual medal. Saina Nehwal won a bronze after facing the 10th straight defeat from World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying. PV Sindhu, on the other hand, entered in the race to win a historic gold by thrashing her Japanese counterpart Akane Yamaguchi in 3 games. She is the first Indian to enter a final game in badminton in Asian Games. From the time, badminton was introduced as a competitive sport in the Asian Games in 1962, India has won only two medals in individual events till date. The first one came from Syed Modi who took away bronze in 1982, and the second one came today from Saina Nehwal. A third in line is assured from PV Sindhu who will play her finals.

Other instances of India winning a medal in team events came in the following years:

1997, Tehran: Bronze in Men’s Team event by Partho Ganguli, Davinder Ahuja, Raman Ghosh, Prakash Padukone, and Dinesh Khanna

1982, New Delhi: Bronze in Women’s Team event by Ami Ghia, Vandana Chiplunkar, Madhumita Bisht, Amita Kulkarni, Kanwal Thakar Singh, and Hufrish Nariman.

1982, New Delhi: Bronze in Men’s Doubles by Pradeep Gandhe and Leroy D’Sa

1982, New Delhi: Bronze in Mixed Doubles by Leroy D’Sa and Kanwal Thakar Singh

1986, Seoul: Bronze in Men’s Team event by Prakash Padukone, Leroy D’sa, Ravi Kunte, Vimal Kumar, Sanat Misra, Syed Modi, Uday Pawar.

2014, Incheon: Bronze in Women’s Team event by Tanvi Lad, Saina Nehwal, Pradnya Gadre, Ashwini Ponnappa, PV Sindhu, N Sikki Reddy, PC Thulasi

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