By When you think about athletes in general, we tend to think that they are physically well proportionate in height and weight but indeed athletes likewise are just like any other human, and especially when it comes to badminton players, they come in all shapes and sizes and being short or tall doesn’t matter as long as the players are exceptionally skilled. In this article, we have listed the top 5 shortest badminton players in the world.
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Koki Watanabe
Koki Watanabe is a Japanese professional badminton player standing at the height of 5 ft 5 (1.66 m) and is considered one of the shortest badminton players in the world. Koki has been a member of the Unisys squad since 2017. Though he is short, he is known for his fast footwork and is remarkably talented. He won his first international championship at the 2018 Yonex / K&D.
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Yuta Watanabe
Standing at the height of 5 ft 6 (1.67 m), we have another Watanabe, but this time it’s Yuta Watanabe, a Japanese left-handed badminton player who is ranked third for shortest badminton player in the world. He is a part of the Nihon Unisys squad, and a national squad A representative. Yuta is popularly recognized for his sharp and fierce motions with his famous signature drop shots on the court. He has won three bronze medals at the World Junior Championships and also won four bronzes at the Asian Junior Championships. In 2017, Yuta was appointed to be a part of the Japanese mixed squad to compete at the Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast, Australia, where he won a gold medal in the qualification to Gold Coast at the 2017 Asia Mixed Team Championships in HoChi Minh City, Vietnam, and the squad completed in the semi-final game, and don’t the bronze medal. He has many other notable achievements and this proves that he is not someone you should underestimate on the court just because he is of a smaller size.
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Marcus Fernaldi Gideon
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon is an Indonesian professional badminton player. Standing at the height of 5 ft 6 (1.68 m), he was formerly placed in world #1 in the men’s doubles by the Badminton World Federation. Marcus currently plays for PB Jaya Raya and has been a member of the club since June 2018. His achievements include winning the 2017 All England Open with his existing partner Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. He and his partner Sukamuljo were acknowledged as one of the best excellent players and also won the award in the category of BWF Best Male Players of the Year for two consecutive years after obtaining a total of seven Super Series titles in 2017 and a whopping eight World Tour titles in 2018. Simply put, Marcus is unstoppable on the court.
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Datuk Lee Chong Wei
Datuk Lee Chong Wei is a former number 1 Malaysian badminton singles player standing at the height of 5 ft 7 (1.72 m). He is a three-time silver medalist in the Olympics and is deemed one of the best badminton players of all time. He is called the number 1 player because he was placed in the first world for a total of 349 weeks, including the 199 weeks long from August 21, 2008, to June 14, 2021, which is an incredible achievement as a singles player. Datuk is the sole Malaysian player who held the No.1 ranking for over a year.
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Taufik Hidayat
Taufik Hidayat is an Indonesian former badminton player standing at the height of 5 ft 9 (1.76 m). He holds many titles including the World, Asian Games, Olympic, and Asian champions. He was the youngest world No.1 in men’s singles and won six times in the Indonesia Open which was in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. So far he has won 27 international singles titles in his profession and is highly considered one of the most exceptional badminton players of all time.
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