All England Open Badminton Championships | India's finest performances ever at world's oldest tournament

Even though England is not really a force to reckon with in badminton anymore, it still boasts of hosting the grand, old tournament of the sport, the All England Open. After a brief era of dominance by England, there came a time when the Malaysians and the Indonesians ruled the roost, along with the Danes, but things are a lot different now. 

Prakash Nath – Runner up 1947

Come the second game, the Indian won 15-12 to stay alive, while in the third one, much to the surprise of everyone, he thrashed Madsen 15-3. Later, in the second match, he defeated Tod Majury in straight games 15-7, 15-11. In the quarters, he was supposed to play Mohan, but both decided not to play the match, and the winner was decided with the flip of a coin. 

Nath's journey finally came to a halt in the final, where to lost to Denmark's Conny Jepsen 15-7, 15-11.

On March 23, 1980, Prakash Padukone made history by becoming the first Indian to win the All England Open. He won the title without losing a single game. In the round of 32, he faced Malaysian Suffian Abu Bakr and defeated him 15-7, 15-12. Then it was the turn of Indonesian Hadiyanto in the following round and the Indian dominated the opening game 15-0. He advanced after winning the second 15-10.

Next up, Padukone got the better of Swiss opponent Pri 15-4, 15-4. He met Frost Hansen, another Swiss, in the last four. A fellow countryman of Pri met the same conclusion and was defeated by Padukone 15-8, 15-10.

When Padukone and his opponent squared off in the 1981 championship match, it was one of the most watched sporting events in history. King started out strong and quickly built a 9-0 lead because he intended to exact revenge for his earlier defeat. But Padukone overcame a deficit to prevail 11–15.

But, the enormous efforts he made to become better exhausted him. The Indian eventually lost the match, 15-11, 4-15, and 6-15, as the rallies grew lengthier in the second and third games.

In 2001, Pullella Gopichand was not at all considered a favourite to take the title, or was even in contention. But he started the tournament well and easily defeated Colin Haugton in straight games in the Round of 32 (15-7, 15-4). He faced Chinese Ji Xingpeng, one of the tournament favourites, in the Round of 16. He was the reigning world champion at the time and an Olympic champion.

But, Gopichand pulled off a surprise by defeating the Chinese 15-3, 15-9. He maintained his strong form in the quarterfinals, defeating Anders Boesen 15-11, 15-7. In the next round, Peter Gade pushed him to the edge. Both players engaged in a fierce struggle as they stood face to face. Nevertheless, Gopichand maintained his composure in the game's tiebreakers to win the match 17-14, 17-15.

Saina Nehwal, runners-up 2015

In 2015, Saina Nehwal entered the All England Championship as the third seed. She, therefore, received a favourable draw and faced Bellaetrix Manuputty of Indonesia in the opening round. She easily defeated her with a score of 21-8 and 21-12 in two games. She played South Korean Kim Hyo-Min in the second round and defeated her 21-15, 21-15 with minimal difficulty.

Going into the final, Saina was the centre of attention since she was attempting to enter the annals of history. The first Indian woman to win the All England Open was only one victory away from happening. The sixth-seeded Carolina Marin of Spain was her opponent. She got off to a fast start and won the opening match 21-16. Her on-court actions slowed down, and she ultimately dropped the final two games 14-21, 7-21.

Lakshya Sen, runners-up 2022

Viktor Axelsen, however, ended his amazing streak. Sen, competing in his first BWF Super 1000 final, was defeated by the gold medalist from the Tokyo Olympics 21-10, 21-15 in 53 minutes.