Indian shuttlers had a disappointing day at the Asian Badminton Championships in Johar Baru, Malaysia, on Thursday, most of them bowing out of the competition in various categories.
Anup Sridhar, India's top singles player, attained a career best ranking of 25, according to the latest Badminton World Federation's (BWF) ranking list.
The Indian ace needed a little more than 30 minutes to tame Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal 21-16, 21-14 and set up a second round clash with world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan, who is regarded as one of the most nimble-footed shuttlers around, in the men's badminton tournament at Beijing.
The Bangalore lad shocked world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan in a quarter-final match at the Yonex-Sunrise Asian Badminton Championship.
The Indian ace was beaten by Lin Dan of China in the semi-finals of the Yonex Open badminton tournament.
The Mission Olympic Cell is also considering higher incentives for retired Olympians and world-class players who want to take up coaching, in an effort to retain top talent within India.
PV Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu overcame a sluggish start to defeat world number seven Han Yue of China in a thrilling contest, progressing to the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Thursday.
PV Sindhu cruised into the women's singles final with a dominating straight-game win over fellow Indian Unnati Hooda in the semis.
PV Sindhu says if she remains injury-free and in peak physical condition, she will aim for a third medal.
Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a 13-21, 14-21, loss to Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama, while Aakarshi Kashyap went down 18-21, 10-21 to German Yvonne Li.
Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will have a new coach after the Paris Olympics, said his mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar, who has taken over the duties till the Summer Games.
The struggle of Indian women shuttlers on the BWF circuit is quite apparent, but Saina Nehwal backs her colleagues by saying that even the strong Chinese players are finding it difficult to dish out strong performances on a consistent basis and expressed hope that the lean patch of the singles players will end soon.
A year ago, following the World Championships, Sen underwent nasal surgery to treat a deviated septum. What followed was an extended recovery process that took eight months.
Lakshya Sen said the win against reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng gives him confidence and belief in the Olympic qualification year.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
Defending champion Lakshya Sen looked in fine fettle as he registered a straight-game win over compatriot H S Prannoy to make a winning start to his title defence at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
List of the athletes who will represent India at the 29th Olympic Games.
Top seeds Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand cruised to the pre-quarterfinals even as three other top Indian shuttlers bite the dust at the India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Chennai on Wednesday.
With both their singles and doubles challengers crashing out in the opening round itself, India's campaign came to a disappointing end in the Swiss Open Super Series badminton tournament in St Jakobshalle, Switzerland.
Olympian Anup Sridhar pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, beating world No 2 Peter Gade of Denmark to enter the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament. Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal also reached the quarter-finals after staving off a scare from Indonesian Adrianti Firdasari in Singapore City.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and Olympian Anup Sridhar advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series even as three other Indians were shown the door on Wednesday.
Indian shuttlers had a mixed start in the Singapore Open Super Series, with Olympian Anup Sridhar advancing to the main draw after winning both his qualifying matches, and compatriot Anand Pawar bowing out in Singapore on Tuesday. Sridhar bounced back from a game down in his second round match to beat China's Yanbo Qiu 15-21, 21-19, 21-17 after a gruelling 52-minute battle.
Sania Mirza opens her singles campaign against Czech Iveta Benesova at the Olympics Games on Monday.
Shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar on Sunday saved India from a total wash-out on the second day of the Beijing Olympics as shooters spearheaded by World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu and the women's archery team bowed out of the competition.
Beijing Olympics-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal's participation in the first Tata Open badminton tournament, to be held in Mumbai, from July 27-31 is in doubt. While the former is nursing an injury, the latter is still to confirm her entry.
Indian shuttler Anand Pawar failed to make the main draw of the Indonesian Open badminton tournament after a 17-21, 18-21 loss to Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in the qualifying opener of the Super Series event in Jakarta.
Top Indian shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand crashed out of the Asian badminton championships, as Indian shuttlers had a disastrous start, none of their men and women surviving in the singles competition on the first day itself.
He will take over the doubles responsibilities for the Thomas Cup.
Anup Sridhar and Anand Pawar were among four Indians advancing to the pre-quarter-finals of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Auckland on Tuesday.
Anup Sridhar and Aditya Prakash advanced to the pre-quarter-finals but four other Indians crashed out of the Australian Open Grand Prix men's singles in Melbourne on Wednesday.
In the second men's semi-final in the National Badminton Championships, fourth seed Arvind Bhatt takes on fifth seed Anand Pawar.
Olympian Anup Sridhar's challenge fizzled out but Anand Pawar survived a stiff one to emerge the lone Indian qualifier to reach the main draw at the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Jakarta on Tuesday.
India's campaign in the Aviva Singapore Super Series came to an end on Friday after both Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar lost their respective quarter-finals. Tournament sixth-seed Saina went down 21-19, 19-21, 14-21 to China's Wang Lin in the women's singles while qualifier Sridhar's dream run was cut short by Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana. The Indian lost 11-21, 8-21.
Just days before embarking on their Olympic sojourn, Beijing-bound shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar got a fillip when they were handed a favourable draw in the women's and men's singles badminton competition of the quadrennial event starting August 8. Although Saina's path to the pre-quarterfinals is relatively smooth, the same is not in the case of her male counterpart Sridhar.
The Tata Open badminton championship received a setback after Beijing-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal deciding to skip the event to be held in Mumbai from Sunday. With the Olympics just two weeks away, Anup, who strained his ankle last week during a practice session, opted out of the tournament as a precautionary measure before the Beijing Games.
Seven Indian shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar, sailed into the pre-quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open even as world No 1 Lee Chong Wei crashed out of the tournament in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Women's second-seed Saina thrashed Chew Yen Daphne Ng 21-6, 21-10 in 21 minutes to set up a clash with Hung Yung Chan of Hong Kong in the second round.
National champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the semi-finals of the Singapore Open badminton tournament, beating Indonesia's Firdasari Adrianti 21-16, 20-22, 21-16 on Friday.
Legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone feels Anup Sridhar is one of India's best bets to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics. The Bangalore lad will be the country's lone men's singles challenger at the prestigious quadrennial event in Beijing.
Saina Nehwal and Sayali Gokhale gave India a rousing start at the Philippines Open badminton championship
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