Badminton is a pretty famous game but in India, it is not as famous as cricket. We mostly know Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Srikant Kambhi who are regular in bringing gold for our country. Well, these are just the Indian players of Badminton. Let’s take a look at the Top 10 badminton players in the world( Males). This list has been brought to you by Today Badminton Monthly.
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Lee Chong Wei
Lee Chong Wei is the Malaysian Badminton Player. As a singles player, he was ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is a multi-time silver medalist in Olympics which made the Malaysian Prime Minister naming his as a national hero.
Lee was born in Bagan Serai, Perak into a Malaysian Chinese family. Lee is currently married to Mew Choo who has several times been his badminton partner. They were married on 9 November 2012 and had two children, Kingston, and Terrance, which were born in April 2013 and July 2015 respectively.
2. Chen Long
Chen Long is a Chinese professional badminton player. He is the reigning Olympic Champion and two-time world champion and all England Champion.
Chen emerged as a world junior champion in 2007 BWF World Junior Championships and also became Asian Junior Champion in the 2007 Asian Junior Badminton Championship.
He is currently married to badminton player Wang Shixian in 2017, after being over a decade together.
3. Lin Dan
Lin Dan is a Chinese professional badminton player. He is a two-time Olympic champion, 5-time world champion as well as a six-time all England champion.
Lin was born to a Hakka family in Shanghang County, Longyan, Fujian. At a young age, Lin Dan was encouraged to learn to play the piano by his parents and to be a pianist. However, he chose to play badminton instead. Having started his training at the age of five, he was scouted by the people’s Liberation army sports team after winning the National Junior Championships aged twelve and was enlisted into the Chinese National Badminton Team in 2001, when he was 18.
Lin has been in a relationship with Xie Xingfang, herself a former world champion, since 2003. They were quietly engaged on December 13, 2010, in Haizhu, Guangzhou. Xie initially denied but later acknowledged romantic involvement with Lin, who reacted angrily at the public exposure of their relationship, citing reasons of personal privacy. The two were married on September 23, 2012, and the wedding ceremony was held at the Beijing University of Technology.
4. Viktor Axelsen
Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish badminton player and the current men’s singles world champion. He earned his first European crown in May 2016 beating compatriot and defending champion Jan O Jorgenson 21–11, 21–16 in the final. He was the 2010 World Junior Champion, beating Korea’s Kang Ji Wook in the final to become the first ever European player to hold the title.
In 2011, he lost the world junior title to Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli, coming in second place. In the 2017 BWF World Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland, he became the World Champion by beating Lin Dan in straight sets.
5.Jan O Jorgensen
Jan Østergaard Jørgensen is a male badminton player from Denmark. He plays in the Denmark Badminton league representing SIF.
He won the European Championship title in 2014. He won the bronze medal at the 2008 European Badminton Championships and 2012 European Badminton Championships and the silver medal at the 2010 European Badminton Championships and 2016 European Badminton Championships.
He won the Danish Championship title in 2012, 2013 and again in 2015 (Withdrawn due to injury in 2014). He was the runner up at 2009 China Open Super Series and won Denmark Open in 2010, French Open (badminton) in 2013, Indonesia Open (badminton) in 2014 and the invitational Copenhagen Masters in 2009, 2011 and 2012. In 2014, he became the first European male singles player to win the Indonesia Open. In March 2015 he reached the final of the All England Super Series, but lost against Chen Long, from China, 21-15, 17-21, 15-21.
He is married to the Danish handball player Stine Jorgensen
6. Carolina Marin
Carolina María Marín Martín is a professional badminton player from Spain. She is the Olympic Champion, two time World Champion, four-time European Champion and the former World No. 1 in BWF rankings for the women’s singles. Carolina Marín is currently ranked No. 5 in the World by Badminton World Federation. She became the World Champion in women’s singles two times in a row in 2014 and 2015. She won her first Olympics gold medal in women’s singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In June 2017, she was appointed as the Brand ambassador of Meliá Hotels International. She was also appointed the brand ambassador of football major LaLiga for its promotion in other countries.
7. Wang Yihan
Wang Yihan (born January 18, 1988, in Shanghai) is a retired professional female badminton player from China and former women’s singles world champion and Olympic silver medalist. Wang started her career with her coach Wang Pengren at only nine years of age. She was selected for the junior team in 2004, and after being promoted to the senior team in 2006 she began to shine in major tournaments. By October 2009 she was the top-ranked Women’s singles player in the world.
8. Li Xuerui
Li Xuerui (born January 24, 1991, in Chongqing) is a badminton player from China and one of the most successful players of her time. As of August 2016, she is the world No. 3 women’s singles player and the 2012 Olympic singles champion. She graduated with a BA from Huachiao University and was the runner-up in the 2013 and 2014 World Championships.
Li Xuerui is one of the Chinese players with fourteen super series titles. She was one of the successful players to be Ranked No.1 in the World, for three years and she confirmed her name as China’s second most successful player after Wang Yihan was in the Super Series tournament.
9. Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women’s singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork which has been described as ‘balletic’ by commentators such as Gillian Clark. She became world champion in women’s singles in 2013.
10. Tai Tzu- Ying
Tai Tzu-Ying is a Taiwanese professional badminton player. In 2011, she won the title of Taiwanese ranking competition when she was only 16 years and 6 months old, becoming the youngest No. 1 in Taiwanese badminton history. She became world No. 1 in women’s singles in December 2016, age 22, and has ranked No.1 for 67 consecutive weeks since then.
Tai was a finalist at the 2010 Singapore Super Series. She won her first international title at the 2011 US Open Grand Prix Gold at the age of 17. She won her biggest titles at the Superseries Finals in 2014 and 2016 and won the Superseries Premiere event, Indonesia Open, in 2016. She won six consecutive titles spanning 2016 and 2017 and has a 27-match winning streak since losing to Sung Ji-Hyun at the Superseries Finals. She also won the Hong Kong Super Series three times, in 2014, 2016, and 2017
