New Delhi has been selected as the host city for the Badminton World Championships in August 2026, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Monday.The sport’s most prestigious tournament will return to India after 17 years, with Hyderabad having hosted it in 2009. The announcement came during the closing ceremony of the 2025 Championships in Paris, where a symbolic handover took place between BWF president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, Federation Francaise de Badminton chief Frank Laurent, and Badminton Association of India (BAI) general secretary Sanjay Mishra.“We assure that India will give nothing less than 100 per cent to uphold and carry forward the same standards of excellence and grandeur that Paris has showcased. We look forward to welcoming the badminton family to Delhi,” Mishra was quoted as saying in a BAI release.The Delhi edition will also mark the event’s return to Asia after eight years, with the last one held in Nanjing, China in 2018.“For India, hosting the Championships again highlights its standing as both a powerhouse on court and a major destination on the global badminton map,” the BAI said.India’s breakthrough at the Worlds came with Prakash Padukone’s bronze in Copenhagen, followed by Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa’s historic women’s doubles bronze in 2011, which underlined the nation’s growing depth.At the forefront of India’s success stands PV Sindhu, one of the tournament’s most decorated women’s singles players with five medals — a gold, two silvers, and two bronzes. Since 2011, India has maintained an unbroken medal streak, most recently extended by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s bronze in Paris 2025, their second medal at the event.A decade after Hyderabad 2009, Sindhu scripted history in Basel 2019 by defeating Nozomi Okuhara to claim India’s first-ever gold at the World Championships. Saina Nehwal also made her mark with a silver in 2015 and a bronze in 2017, the latter a milestone year when two Indian women — Nehwal and Sindhu — shared the podium. Together, Indian women’s singles players have accounted for seven medals, the country’s strongest category.In recent years, Indian men too have delivered. Kidambi Srikanth (silver, 2021), B Sai Praneeth (bronze, 2019), Lakshya Sen (bronze, 2021), and HS Prannoy (bronze, 2023) have all added to the tally, ensuring India’s consistent presence on the world stage.
