Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth (born 10 August 1992) is an Indian former badminton player. He became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a bronze medal in the BWF World Championships in 2019 after Prakash Padukone in 1983. Sai Praneeth was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2019. His parents are Seshadri Deekshitulu and Madhavi Latha of Palakollu, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. His maternal aunt was a national level badminton player.

Career Sai Praneeth is an India badminton player who currently trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. The right-handed Indian stunned the 2003 All England Champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia at the 2013 Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold tournament in the first round.

In 2013, Praneeth defeated Taufik Hidayat unexpectedly early in front of a home crowd. He defeated Taufik Hidayat in the first round match of the Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, with the final score being 15-21, 21-12, 21-17. A few days later, on 19 June 2013, he again upstaged a much higher ranked Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the Singapore Super Series.

At the 2016 All England Super Series Premier, Sai Praneeth defeated the 2nd seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the 1st Round 24-22, 22-20 in straight games. In July 2016, he won his maiden Grand Prix title, the 2016 Canada Open Grand Prix in the men's singles category. In the final match played at Calgary, Sai Praneeth defeated Lee Hyun-il of South Korea 21-12, 21-10. In 2017, he won the Singapore Open Super Series after beating compatriot Srikanth Kidambi in the final in three games, hence becoming the fourth Indian to win a superseries title after Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi and P. V. Sindhu.

In 2019, Praneeth won a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in Basel, Switzerland after losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Kento Momota. In his route to the semifinal, he beat sixth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the third round and the reigning Asian Games Champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the quarterfinals.

Praneeth qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he was seeded thirteenth. However, he made a shock exit at the group stage after losing to Misha Zilberman of Israel and Mark Caljouw of Netherlands.

Praneeth announced his retirement through his social media account Instagram on 4 March 2024. He will start a new journey as a coach in the United States.

Achievements

World Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2019 St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland Kento Momota 13–21, 8–21 Bronze

World Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2010 Domo del Code Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico Viktor Axelsen 21–19, 15–21, 15–21 Bronze

Commonwealth Youth Games Boys' doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2008 Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune, India Pranav Chopra Gary Fox Richard Morris 21–18, 23–21 Bronze

BWF World Tour (1 runner-up) The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result 2019 Swiss Open Super 300 Shi Yuqi 21–19, 18–21, 12–21 Runner-up

BWF Superseries (1 title) The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries had two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries featured twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year-end.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2017 Singapore Open Srikanth Kidambi 17–21, 21–17, 21–12 Winner BWF Superseries Finals tournament BWF Superseries Premier tournament BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (2 titles, 1 runner-up) The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2016 Canada Open Lee Hyun-il 21–12, 21–10 Winner 2017 Syed Modi International Sameer Verma 19–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2017 Thailand Open Jonatan Christie 17–21, 21–18, 21–19 Winner BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (6 titles, 1 runner-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2010 Iran Fajr International Mohammadreza Kheradmandi 21–19, 21–18 Winner 2012 Bahrain International Niluka Karunaratne 14–21, 21–14, 21–17 Winner 2012 Tata Open India International R. M. V. Gurusaidutt 19–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2015 Sri Lanka International Sameer Verma 21–18, 21–8 Winner 2015 Lagos International Adrian Dziolko 21–14, 21–11 Winner 2015 Bangladesh International Sameer Verma 21–14, 8–21, 21–17 Winner

Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2010 Iran Fajr International Pranav Chopra Ali Shahhosseini Mohammadreza Kheradmandi 21–17, 21–12 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 9 April 2024.

Player Matches Win Lost Chen Long 3 1 2 –1 Lin Dan 3 1 2 –1 Shi Yuqi 5 0 5 –5 Du Pengyu 2 0 2 –2 Zhao Junpeng 2 0 2 –2 Chou Tien-chen 5 0 5 –5 Viktor Axelsen 6 0 6 –6 Anders Antonsen 4 1 3 –2 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 5 1 4 –3 Jan Ø. Jørgensen 2 0 2 –2 Rajiv Ouseph 3 2 1 +1 Kevin Cordón 1 1 0 +1 Srikanth Kidambi 10 5 5 0

Player Matches Win Lost Prannoy H. S. 5 2 3 –1 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 8 3 5 –2 Taufik Hidayat 1 1 0 +1 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 3 0 3 –3 Tommy Sugiarto 5 3 2 +1 Kento Momota 7 2 5 –3 Lee Chong Wei 5 1 4 –3 Liew Daren 3 1 2 –1 Wong Choong Hann 1 1 0 +1 Lee Hyun-il 3 1 2 –1 Son Wan-ho 5 1 4 –3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 1 0 1 –1 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 7 4 3 +1

References

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