Nikhil Kanetkar (born 13 May 1979) is the only

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

badminton player from

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Born in a Maharashtrian family, Kanetkar played

badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics Badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at the Goudi Olympic Hall at the Goudi Olympic Complex Goudi Olympic Complex is a sports complex in Athens, Greece. It held two of the sports venues used during the 2004 Summer Olympics. Goudi Oly ...

in men's singles, defeating

Sergio Llopis Sergio Llopis Solís (born August 18, 1978 in Xàtiva, Valencia) is a male badminton player from Spain. Career 2004 Summer Olympics Llopis played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's singles competition, losing in the round of 32 ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the first round. In the round of 16, Kanetkar was defeated by

Peter Gade } Peter Høeg Gade (born 14 December 1976 in Aalborg, Denmark)BWF World Ranking
Bwfbadminto ...

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. In addition to Olympics, Kanetkar has represented India in the

Thomas Cup The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships h ...

, All England Open,

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

, World Championships,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

SAF Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic C ...

Swiss Open The Omega European Masters is the Swiss stop on professional men's golf's European Tour, and in 2009 it became the first event in Europe to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Founded as the Swiss Open in 1923, the tournament was prefixed with Eu ...

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

, Toulouse Open and numerous other championships. In 2011, he retired from competitive sports and set up Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy (NKBA, www.nkba.in) in Pune, India. The academy is based at

Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex The Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex is a sports complex located in Pune, India. The complex is situated about 15 km from Pune downtown and 5 km from Hinjawadi. This complex was the venue for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, Kh ...

, 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 Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

newspaper

Sakal ''Sakal'' (Marathi: सकाळ, meaning "Morning") is a Marathi-language daily newspaper by Sakal Media Group, its headquarters established in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Sakal is the flagship newspaper of the foundation publication, Sakal Med ...

from

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

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 (Veterans) 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 Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, India.

Achievements

BWF World Senior Championships

South Asian Games

''Men's singles''

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983. ''Men's singles''

IBF International

''Men's singles''

Sources

Kanetkar, Saina lead D-day challengeI choose not to be frustrated: Kanetkartask for shuttlers – Aparna Popat, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar carry Indian hopes
*

References

External links

*
Official Website
1979 births Living people Racket sportspeople from Pune Marathi sportspeople Indian male badminton players Badminton players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of India Badminton players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Badminton players at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games silver medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in badminton {{India-badminton-bio-stub