India's top junior shuttler Sameer Verma entered the final of the Asia Youth Under-19 badminton championships after a hard-fought, three-game victory over Liu Kai of China in Lucknow on Friday. The 16-year-old Sameer won 21-19, 15-21, 21-9.
Sameer Verma advanced to the semi-finals of the US $150,000 Swiss Open with an easy victory over former world No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan, in Basel, on Saturday.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will spearhead a strong contingent at the USD 250,000 Swiss Open, beginning on Tuesday, aiming to regain top form.
India's Sameer Verma bagged his second badminton title in a row by clinching the Bahrain International Challenge at Isa Town on Sunday.
However, it was curtains for Kiran George in the men's singles event as he lost 20-22, 6-21 against seventh seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
The World No. 10 Prannoy was the latest to be eliminated on a day when Sameer Verma, mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy along with women singles player Aakarshi Kashyap drew blanks.
Verma beat his Taiwanese opponent 21-18, 21-14.
In mixed doubles, the husband-wife Indian pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy defeated Malaysia's Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-19.
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth opened his campaign at the Thailand Masters badminton tournament with a straight game win over Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Manjunath will play Taipei's Yu Jen, who was lucky to progress after fifth seed Rasmus Gemke retired in the second game after pocketing the first.
Srikanth lost 21-23, 8-21 to Korea's Chia Hao Lee, continuing his dismal run in international circuit this season.
Olympic medallist P V Sindhu is also missing in action as she recovers from an injury.
Karthikeya Gulshan Kumar produced a thrilling performance
However, a tough contest awaits the former world No. 1 as he faces top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan next.
In the mixed doubles, the Indian duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto lost 13-21, 12-21 to the Chinese pair of Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping in the first round.
Rankireddy and Shetty won 21-12, 21-16 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 49 minutes.
This was Sameer's fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.
Kidambi outperforms Sen, Sameer scores upset win
While Sen needed just 40 minutes to advance Sameer Verma retired hurt against Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito at the end of the second game when the scoreline reading 16-21, 21-12 in another men's singles match.
India's double Olympic medallist superstar PV Sindhu reached the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open Super 1000 tournament in Odense on Thursday after three hard-fought games against her opponent from Thailand.
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
The top seeded Indian duo, who reached the semi-finals of the season-opening Malaysia Open super 1000, was scheduled to face Chinese Taipei's Su Ching Heng and Ye Hong Wei in the opening round.
Sindhu was made to toil hard by China's He Bing Jiao
None of those arrested is staff of Lulu Mall, which was inaugurated recently by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The fresh arrests come days after the police nabbed a fifth accused in the case.
A controversy broke out after a video purportedly showing a group of people offering namaaz in Lulu Mall in Lucknow surfaced on social media, leading to a protest by a right-wing Hindu group that also filed a police complaint.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth's wretched run continued as he went down 6-21, 17-21 to fellow-Indian Ajay Jayaram, diminishing his hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
Sindhu made short work of fifth seed Michelle Li of Canada 21-10, 21-19 in 36 minutes
International badminton players posted a video where they played different strokes while Bella Ciao, the theme song for Money Heist, plays in the background.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma are the men's singles players who have decided to withdraw while doubles specialists Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have also opted out. Leading Indian women's singles players PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - both previous Olympic medallists - are making the trip to England, as are their male counterparts Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth.
Seventh seed Sindhu lost 14-21 18-21 to Bing Jiao in the women's singles.
COVID-19 is a stark reminder that man should now learn to respect nature and not tinker with it, says Indian shuttler Sameer Verma. The shuttler also felt that the coronavirus-forced break is an opportunity to fix mental weakness and that a six-week training regime should be good enough to regain match-fitness after normalcy returns.
If Sindhu and Saina win their respective second round matches, they will face each other in the quarter-finals.
However, the tournament was over for fourth seed Sameer Verma after he retired hurt against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.
The 18-year-old Sen, the 2018 world junior championships silver-medallist, lost 13-21, 12-21 to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in a 32-minute contest.
India's H S Prannoy faced stiff resistance before prevailing against local hero Daren Liew to advance to the second round of the Malaysia Open, in Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday.
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
Chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
Kidambi Srikanth staged a magnificent comeback to beat five-time World champion Lin Dan of China 18-21, 21-17, 21-16 and enter the men's singles quarter-finals at the Denmark Open on Thursday night. The No.6-ranked Indian ace will meet compatriot Sameer Verma on Friday.
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