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 bet ...

badminton player from

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( 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 As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

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. Born in a Maharashtrian family, Kanetkar played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, defeating Sergio Llopis of

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

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

All England Open The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premi ...

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, World Championships,

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, SAF Games, Swiss Open,

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, 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, 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 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 a ...

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

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, 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
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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