Madhya Pradesh lad Sourabh again led the charge, continuing his giant-killing spree with a 21-19, 18-21, 21-11 upset win over seventh seed Kenichi Tago, while Gurusai sent Yuhan Tan of Belgium packing with a 21-13, 14-21, 21-13 defeat.
HS Prannoy had almost given up on winning his next title and breaking a six-year long drought before chief national coach Pullela Gopichand instilled in him the belief.
India's Saina Nehwal and RMV Gurusaidutt notched contrasting victories to advance to the singles semi-finals at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Pune on Friday. Top-seed Saina prevailed over Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia 21-13, 21-13 in just 30 minutes, while fifth-seed Gurusaidutt stunned second-seed Korean Sung Min Park 21-16, 14-21, 21-19 in a 53-minute battle.
Gurusaidutt will be stepping on a new journey as a coach.
Awadhe Warriors brother-sister pair of Markis Kido and Pia Bernadeth held their nerves in a close encounter to win the crucial fifth match and the tie 3-2 against Mumbai Masters in the second semi-final to set up the summit clash with Hyderabad Hotshots in the Indian Badminton League on Thursday.
The Commonwealth Games' gold medal-winning pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa went down fighting in the Indian Open Super Series badminton at the Siri Fort Complex, in New Delhi, on Thursday. The eighth seeded Indian duo lost 20-22, 18-21 to Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong of Malaysia.
National champion Arvind Bhat made it to the pre-quarter-finals of the Australian Open badminton tournament after beating Iran's Kaveh Mehrabi in the second round in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal got the better of Jiayuan Chen of Singapore 21-16, 21-12 to enter the second round of the women's singles in the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, at Alor Setar, on Wednesday.
It was curtains for India in the Indian Open Super Series after young shuttlers Sourabh Verma and RMV Gurusai Datt suffered straight-game defeats in the quarter-finals of the men's singles at the Siri Fort Complex on Friday.
After much dilly-dallying, the Sports Ministry has included Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in the 'Target Olympic Podium Scheme' (TOP) scheme, putting an end to the controversy surrounding the doubles duo's complaint of bias against the Ministry and chief national coach Pullela Gopichand.
Tennis star Leander Paes and badminton player-turned-coach Pullela Gopichand were selected for the prestigious Padma Bhushan awards while cricketer Yuvraj Singh was among the seven sportspersons chosen for this year's Padma Shri award.
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