India’s badminton medals at the Olympics – A trend started by Saina Nehwal, perfected by PV Sindhu

India’s recent success at the Olympic Games can be attributed to the rise of badminton in the country. India’s top shuttlers have won medals in each of the last three editions of the Summer Games in a splendid advertisement for the game.

After Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton in 2012, PV Sindhu stepped up to keep the trend alive in the next two Games by winning a silver at Rio 2016 and a bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Here is how the two Indian badminton icons brought home the Olympic medals.

Saina Nehwal – Bronze medal, London 2012 Olympics

After the quarter-final exit at Beijing 2008, Saina Nehwal went on to win several tournaments in the next four years, including medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian championships. And from being unseeded in Beijing, Saina Nehwal had done enough to head into the London Olympics as the fourth seed.

Saina Nehwal, recovering from a bout of viral fever, opened her campaign with two convincing wins – first over Sabrina Jacquet (21-9, 21-4) and then Lianne Tan (21-4, 21-14).

Saina Nehwal defeated Yao Jie (21-14, 21-16) in the round of 16 to set up a quarter-final clash with Tine Baun. The last-eight contest was a challenging one for the Indian as Baun matched Saina point for point. In the end, Saina emerged victorious in two close sets (21-15, 22-20) to take one step closer to the medal.

With a place in the finals on the line, Saina Nehwal faltered. She went down to the world champion Wang Yihan 21-13, 21-13 in the semi-final.

Saina clinched the bronze medal after an injured Wang Xin retired early in the second game having won the first 21-18. Saina Nehwal thus became the first Indian badminton player to stand on the Olympic podium.

PV Sindhu – Silver medal, Rio 2016 Olympics

Heading into the Rio Games, all hopes were pinned on Saina Nehwal to repeat her story from the previous Olympics. But her disappointing group stage exit shifted the focus on young shuttler PV Sindhu.

The then 21-year-old Sindhu made a solid start to Rio, topping her group with wins over Laura Sarosi (21-8, 21-9) and Michelle Li (19-21, 21-15, 21-17) to cruise to the top 16.

Next up, it was Tai Tzu-Ying - a shuttler that would go on to become one of the greatest of all time. But even Tai Tzu could not stop PV Sindhu from marching into the quarter-final.

After a 21-13, 21-15 win over Tai Tzu, Sindhu was forced to dig deep against Wang Yihan but managed to advance with a 22-20, 21-19 victory.

PV Sindhu had to win one more match to become the most successful Indian badminton player at the Olympics. Sindhu went on to outclass Nozomi Okuhara in the semis to book a berth in the final at her debut Olympics.

PV Sindhu won the opening set in the final against Carolina Marin but went down in the next two (21-19, 12-21, 15-21) to take home the silver medal.

PV Sindhu – Bronze medal, Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Following the postponement of Tokyo 2020 and the cancellation of several events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only PV Sindhu could qualify for women’s singles from India.

The Rio 2016 silver medallist started as one of the favourites following the withdrawal of Carolina Marin due to an injury. Sindhu once again topped her group, with wins over Cheung Ngan Yi (21-9, 21-16) and Ksenia Polikarpova (21-7, 21-10) to cruise into the knockouts.

In the round of 16, PV Sindhu overcame Mia Blichfeldt (21-15, 21-13) and followed it up with a tough win over Asian champion Akane Yamaguchi (21-13, 22-20) to meet old foe Tai Tzu-Ying in the semi-finals.

However, this time, it was Tai Tzu who prevailed. Sindhu went down to the world No. 1 (21-18, 21-12) in the penultimate round. Not all was lost, though. Sindhu defeated He Bing Jiao for the third place and returned with a bronze medal.

Badminton Olympic winners of India: Second round and beyond

Barcelona 1992 Olympics

When badminton debuted at the Olympics, former national champion Deepankar Bhattacharya advanced to the third round in the men’s singles while Madhumita Bisht went till the second in the women’s singles event.

Atlanta 1996 Olympics

Deepankar Bhattacharya’s second appearance at the Olympics ended in the second round and PVV Lakshmi also won her opening match but lost the next in the women’s singles.

Sydney 2000 Olympics

Pullela Gopichand, the current chief national badminton coach, made it to the round of 16 on his Olympic debut.

Athens 2004 Olympics

Aparna Popat and Nikhil Kanetkar fell in the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles, respectively.

Beijing 2008 Olympics

Saina Nehwal, in the women’s singles, became the first Indian to reach the quarter-final at the Olympics while Anup Sridhar was eliminated in the second round of the men’s singles.

London 2012 Olympics

Apart from Saina Nehwal’s path-breaking bronze medal in the women’s singles, her now-husband Parupalli Kashyap also made it to the quarters in the men’s singles.

Rio 2016 Olympics

PV Sindhu went all the way to the finals and won the silver medal while former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth fell in the quarter-finals.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics

PV Sindhu was the only Indian who moved past the group stage in Tokyo.

Paris 2024 Olympics

Lakshya Sen became the first Indian men's singles shuttler to reach in Olympic semi-final at Paris 2024. However, he went down fighting to eventual champion Viktor Axelsen in his top four clash before losing to Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match. Earlier, Lakshya had knocked out senior compatriot HS Prannoy in the round of 16 and had accounted for Indonesian ace Jonatan Cristie in the group phase.

PV Sindhu made it past the group stage but her quest for a third straight Olympic medal was ended by the People's Republic of China's He Bingjiao in the round of 16. Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were knocked out in the quarter-finals of men's doubles.