Nikhil Kanetkar


Nikhil Kanetkar is the only Olympic badminton player from Pune India.
Born in a Maharashtrian family, Kanetkar played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, defeating Sergio Llopis of Spain in the first round. In the round of 16, Kanetkar was defeated by Peter Gade of Denmark. In addition to Olympics, Kanetkar has represented India in the Thomas Cup, All England Open, Asian Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, SAF Games, Swiss Open, French Open, Toulouse Open and numerous other championships.
In 2011, he retired from competitive sports and set up Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy in Pune, India. The academy is based at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi, Pune, India. NKBA was established with a vision of "Grooming Talent to Make Champions". Nikhil Kanetkar is currently the Director and Head Coach of NKBA.
Kanetkar is also a columnist and commentator. He wrote for the Marathi newspaper Sakal from Athens during the Olympics and subsequently was invited by StarSports for covering the Badminton events of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Kanetkar played after 7 years post retirement and won the Men's Singles Title in the 35+ age category in the 41st Indian Masters National Badminton Championships 2016-17 organised by Kerala Badminton Association at Regional Sports Centre, Kadavanthra, Kochi, Kerala. In September 2017, he won the bronze medal in the same age group at the BWF World Senior Badminton Championship held in Kochi, India.

Achievements

BWF World Senior Championships

South Asian Games

Men's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2006Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Chetan Anand14–21, 12–21 Silver

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation since 1983.
Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
1999U.S Open Colin Haughton6–15, 0–15 Runner-up

IBF International

Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2006India Satellite Lee Cheol-ho11–21, 11–21 Runner-up
2006Victorian International Richard Vaughan20–22, 13–21 Runner-up
2005South Africa International Kaveh Mehrabi15–8, 15–7 Winner
2004Mauritius International Abhinn Shyam Gupta16–17, 8–15 Runner-up
2003Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse Andreas Wölk15–9, 15–11 Winner
2002Welsh International Irwansyah6–15, 11–15 Runner-up
2001Scottish International Irwansyah5–7, 6–8, 2–7 Runner-up
1998Sri Lanka International Ting Chih-chen15–13, 15–6 Winner