“And from 2012, winning so many titles back-to-back, I think till 2021, we were just winning back-to-back, in so many Super Series, Olympics, World Championship medals. It opened up so well for Indian badminton that it’s now the second most-loved sport, and when I won the first Philippines Open in 2006, defeating the world number four, I was like, ‘Oh my god, it is actually possible to defeat top players.’ And they are not machines. I used to feel that all these Chinese players were everywhere. In fact, the German girl whom I defeated was world number four and also a Chinese player. So I was like, ‘How is it going to be possible to defeat them?’ And they come up with that army every second or third year,” the former World No 1 said.
