Zhang Ning
P.V. Sindhu
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
P.V. Sindhu leads 1 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Zhang Ning at #6 and P.V. Sindhu at #12.
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The case for Zhang Ning
Zhang Ning defied age and expectation to become the only woman to win two Olympic singles gold medals, at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 — the latter aged 33, making her the oldest Olympic badminton champion. A late bloomer who broke through only in her late twenties, she added the 2003 World Championship and multiple Uber Cup team titles for China. Her game was built on suffocating consistency, deep clears and superb defence rather than flashy winners, wearing opponents down over long, punishing rallies. The 2008 gold, won on home soil in Beijing over compatriot Xie Xingfang, capped a remarkable second act and reinforced China's grip on women's singles. Few champions have peaked so late or defended an Olympic title so improbably, and her longevity at the top makes her one of the most quietly formidable players the women's game has produced.
The case for P.V. Sindhu
India's most decorated badminton player, P.V. Sindhu turned the World Championship podium into her own: five medals between 2013 and 2019 — a women's singles record — culminating in the 2019 title in Basel, where she demolished Nozomi Okuhara in the final. She is a two-time Olympic medallist, taking silver at Rio 2016 in an epic loss to Carolina Marin and bronze at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals. Tall, powerful and relentless, with a punishing cross-court smash, she carried Indian badminton's global breakthrough alongside coach Pullela Gopichand. More than her titles, Sindhu's marketability and big-match presence helped transform badminton into a mainstream sport in a cricket-obsessed nation of 1.4 billion, making her one of the most recognisable and commercially significant athletes the sport has produced.