Shuttler Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian becomes world no.1 in boys singles
India's rising badminton star, an 18-year-old, Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, has become the fifth from the country to attain the world's no.1 junior. This is the first time that Indians rule the roost in both boys' and girls' singles events, with Tasnim Mir continuing to dominate the rankings.
Prior to this achievement by Sankar and Mir, India had four more shuttlers who had reached the top of the badminton rankings, on the junior circuit. The first ine ti do so was Aditya Sharma who became the World No. 1 in 2014, followed by Siril Verma in 2016. Current CWG champion Lakshya Sen, ruled the rankings in 2017, while Tasnim and Sankar reached the feat in 2022.
The upcoming shuttler from Tamil Nadu has been a force to reckon with in the junior circuit, and will also be seen at the upcoming Badminton World Junior Championships in October after he finished second at the BAI National Junior Trials recently. Sankar's coming to the fore means great news to the Indian team, especially after Team India won their maiden Thomas Cup, a couple of months back.
The Junior World Championship is scheduled to begin in October 2022, where traditionally, Indian shuttlers are a dominant force and bring medals in plenty.