Country India Height 1.73 m Role Olympic athlete | Name Nikhil Kanetkar Handedness Left | |
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Born May 13, 1979 (age 44)
Pune, Maharashtra, India ( 1979-05-13 ) Education Savitribai Phule Pune University | ||
Nurturing fledgling shuttlers nikhil kanetkar tedxvitpune
Nikhil Kanetkar (born May 13, 1979) is a male Maharashtrian badminton player from Pune India.
Kanetkar played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, defeating Sergio Llopis of Spain in the first round. In the round of 16, Kanetkar was defeated by Peter Gade of Denmark. He would write a column in Marathi newspaper Sakal from Athens during the olympics. In addition to Olympics, Kanetkar has represented India in the Thomas Cup, All England Open, Asian Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, SAF Games, Swiss Open, French Open, 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 the Mahalunge - Balewadi Sports Complex, 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.
Nikhil Kanetkar was invited by Star Sports for covering the Badminton events of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Kanetkar played after 7 years post retirement and won the Mens 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. Now he is set to participate in the World Senior Badminton Championship to be held in Kochi, India in this age category.