Srikanth KIDAMBI

Seeded ninth on his Olympic debut, Srikanth recorded comfortable wins over Mexico's Lino Munoz and Henri Hurskainen of Sweden before a much closer affair in the round of 16 against Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen.

That triumph set up a quarter-final encounter with the legendary Lin Dan, the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 champion. Their matchup was billed as a contest between youth and experience, with the then 32-year-old Chinese veteran only just emerging after a fiercely fought three-game battle.

Srikanth's star though was on the rise, and the Indian shuttler would build on his Olympic outing in 2017 as he won four Super Series titles in the year and closed in on the world number one spot.

That accolade would become his in April 2018. Whilst representing India at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and earning gold in the mixed team event and a silver in the singles event, Srikanth would rise to world number one.

But from there, Kidambi’s form plummeted. Hampered by a series of niggling injuries, the Indian struggled to string a consistent series of results together, which also meant he missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

However, Kidambi bounced back with some strong results late in 2021. With form back on his side, Kidambi Srikanth ended the year with a historic men’s singles silver at the 2021 BWF World Championships and climbed back into the top 10 of the world rankings.

In 2022, Kidambi led a young Indian squad to their maiden Thomas Cup triumph in May. He then clinched a singles bronze and a silver in the mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games in August.

A series of injuries saw Kidambi lose form in the next two years and he missed the qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.