Srikanth Kidambi has now a series of firsts to his name after a superlative show in the European swing.
Indian ace shuttler Srikanth Kidmabi has risen to the zenith of his career. He established himself as world number 2 in the latest BWF men’s singles ratings.
After his grand French Open win, the 24-year-old became the first Indian. He is only the fourth male shuttler in the history to lift four Super Series titles in a calendar year.
The Pullela Gopichand protege achieved the ranking after lifting the French Open trophy last week defeating his Japanese opponent 21-14, 21-13 in a one-sided summit showdown and clinching the Denmark Open Super Series Premier, the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier and Australian Open Super Series earlier in the year.
With this string of successes, Srikanth has grabbed top spot in the Destination Dubai Rankings. A yearly ranking system which factors in performances across the 12 annual Super Series. It determines the top eight and looks a prime contender for the Super Series Final title in December.
Needless to say, if he continues his exemplar play for the remainder of the season, we could have the first Indian World No 1 in men’s badminton since Padukone in 1980, and the first in the computerized ranking era, established in 2009.