Starting August 16, 2026, India will play host to the BWF Badminton World Championships for a second time, in circumstances vastly different from the first time the nation hosted it.
Back in 2009, the Worlds were barely a blip on the Indian sporting radar, badminton still a mix of Prakash Padukone-Pullela Gopichand inspired nostalgia and Saina Nehwal induced hope. At the time the bigger talking point wasn’t if India would medal or not, it was England pulling out due to a terror threat.
Saina, 19 then, had just won a maiden BWF Superseries title under the tutelage of Gopichand, but for the larger Indian audience, that meant very little. Even less that a 14-year-old PV Sindhu was training with Gopichand in his nascent academy at the time, or that a 17-year-old HS Prannoy was watching the matches seated in the crowd, or that Ramcharan Rankireddy, elder brother to Satwiksairaj, was one of the volunteers at the tournament.
At the time, hosting this event — second only to the Olympics on the badminton scale of prestige — was the achievement. After all, hosts got wildcard entries as well, which meant more Indians would play the Worlds: participation was the benefit, a medal would have just been a bonus.
In 2026, though, participation is taken for granted, a medal is what India expects. In the 17 years since that tournament in the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad, everything in the Indian badminton ecosystem has changed, and with it the global tilt of the sport itself. Badminton has become of India’s biggest non-cricket core sports. Indians have won three Olympic and 14 Worlds medals since 2010s, have had three world No 1 players in Saina, Kidambi Srikanth and Satwik-Chirag and a world champion in Sindhu.
“A lot of things have changed, expectation-wise. I think back then we were just happy with getting to play in such an atmosphere,” Sayali Gokhale, who played in the 2009 edition as a wildcard, tells ESPN. “Now we are looking at podium finishes in all the events, that’s what is expected from the current players.”
This belief is the biggest, most definitive, change from 2009. It’s a belief that is backed by an incredible track record.
For one, India’s medalling history at the Worlds clearly outlines the exponential growth the sport’s seen:
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First medal – 1983, a bronze for Prakash Padukone
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Second medal – 2011, Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta, ending a 28-year wait with bronze
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First final – 2015, Saina Nehwal finally winning her first Worlds medal, a silver
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First double podium – 2017, Sindhu with silver, Saina with bronze
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First champion – 2019, Sindhu converting years of consistency and silvers into a historic gold
For another, since that drought-ending medal in 2011, India has won at least one medal at every edition – an incredible, ongoing streak that spans 15 years, 11 editions and four out of the five disciplines. That’s 15 Worlds medals, all but one coming after India hosted the 2009 Worlds (and the 2010 Commonwealth Games).
Even back in 2009, India had players ranked in the Top 20 and there were 3 seeded Indians — Saina (6), Chetan Anand (15), Jwala and V Diju (8) — in the draw. Saina and Jwala-Diju even reached the quarterfinals, one win away from a medal, but both lost to the second seeds. But these, Saina especially, were the exceptions then, just like Padukone and Gopichand in the past. It would take time for the top-flight badminton, both playing and watching, to take root in the Indian sporting subconscious, to almost become commonplace.
Gokhale, the national champion that year, said the Worlds were her first big exposure, one where she lost in the first round to Chinese-born Dutch player Yao Jie. “It was my first experience playing at the high-level. It was great. You always want to play and are training to play in that kind of atmosphere, right? It was in India, we had lots of home support, and it was good, everybody looks forward to that.”
Cut to 2026 and India have seeded players in every discipline except women’s doubles. Of India’s 10 entries, three have won Worlds medals before – Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag. Sindhu herself has five Worlds medals, the joint record for most in women’s singles history, and is going for the outright lead. From happy-to-participate to chasing records, it’s been some journey.
This is a direct result of the groundwork laid by Gopichand and his coaching peers, and the vastly increased exposure of Indian badminton players. Just take the India Open for instance. In 2023, it was upgraded to a Super 750, which made it mandatory for top players, who have been competing in India every year, and with them come more fans, not just Indians. That exposure has turned to consistent performance, which has in turn created a loyal fanbase, and thus higher expectations.
In 2026, a World Championship at home means not just a chance to host and participate, but a chance to go all the way backed by buoyant, expectant home support. After all, the world beaters that India have produced over the last decade now have a chance to show their skill on the biggest of stages while at home.
Their fan bases, so active on social media and the comments of BWF livestreams, can witness this world-beating badminton up close. This is perhaps the best, and biggest compliment one can pay to the Indian athletes whose relentless progress has built the beginning of a sports culture in India – fans look to them for big wins now, not just upsets and out-of-the-blue stunning runs, but to go all the way to the finish line. Badminton has been at the forefront of this change with consistent performances across disciplines in the last decade.
So, when the 2026 BWF World Championship begins in Delhi on Monday, all eyes will be on past medallists Sindhu, Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag and Co, with an eye at the end goal: medals around their neck. Nothing less will do for the Indian badminton culture that has grown from a molehill to a mountain, from 2009 to 2026.
