5. Kidambi Srikanth
It is never for an athlete to deliver a medal in his maiden Olympic Games. Heading into Rio, Kidambi Srikanth was India’s sole challenger in men’s singles and had a lot of responsibility to carry on his shoulders in the absence of Parupalli Kashyap. He defeated 5th seed Jan O Jorgenson 21-19 21-19 to move into the quarters. There, he went up against one of the best players of all time in Lin Dan and in a show of terrific fight, the Indian went down 6-21 21-11 21-17 to bow out.