Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P V Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday. Saina, who clinched her second Australian Open title earlier this month, exchanged places with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who now occupies the sixth spot in the women's singles list headed by Spain's Carolina Marin.
Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth sailed into the semi-finals of the of the $ 120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold after registering a straight-game win over local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen in Bangkok on Friday.
PV Sindhu, on Tuesday, said she wants to change the colour of her Olympic medal from silver to gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Besides the duo, 2017 World Weightlifting Champion in the 48kg category, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and former Asian Games gold medallist tennis player Somdev Devvarman were conferred with the Padma Shri award.
The Indian men's team secured a place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Badminton Asia Team Championships after a hard-fought 3-2 win against Malaysia in the quarter-finals at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
As preparations for the Rio Olympics gather pace, India may be headed for yet another paltry medal haul.
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The deadly COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented postponement as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Japanese government and the athletes world over agreed that Olympics in July-August this year could not have gone ahead in the present circumstances.
Saina Nehwal feels the year going by is one of the best of her career but rued that a series of injuries affected her chances of winning more titles.
Pusarla Sindhu sent Indian fans into a frenzy by blasting through Japan's Nozomi Okuhara to reach the gold medal decider for the women's singles at the Olympic badminton on Thursday.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth reached his fourth final of the year with a comprehensive victory over local hope Ginting Anthony in the Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton event. The World No.9 defeated his 39th-ranked opponent 21-13, 21-19 in the semifinals.
H S Prannoy, feels a high ranking would help players avoid meeting top shuttlers in early rounds, while conceding that the primary focus should be on winning big events.
India's playing-captain Sania Mirza, who returned from the United States after achieving the World No.1 rank in women's doubles, did not need to take field in the Fed Cup tie against Pakistan as the players from the neighboring country proved easy meat for the two Indian girls.
India's mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju are virtually out of the reckoning at the London Olympics. They suffered yet another straight-games defeat in their second group match in the badminton competition at the Wembley arena on Sunday.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is among the 20 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna Awards, who will be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
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.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for the Woman Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation after a consistent season which saw her occupy the world number one spot for a brief period.
Satwik and Ashwini, who reached the semi-finals at Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 in January, will meet the winner of the match between fifth-seeded Malaysians Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing and Germany's Jones Ralfy Jansen and Kilasu Ostermeyer.
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.
H S Prannoy lost in the opening round even as compatriots Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round of the $ 350,000 India Open Super 500 tournament, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The Indian, ranked 27th in the world, lost 15-21, 21-12, 16-21 to her world number 11 opponent at the Elizabeth Stadium on Tuesday.
Mumbai Masters managed to eke out a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Banga Beats in their opening encounter of the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL) at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal is better equipped to win a medal in Rio in August than the Indian shuttler was when she claimed a bronze at the London Olympics four years ago, former All England champion Prakash Padukone said.
>There's still hope and plenty to play for, says Rediff.com's Aruneel Sadadekar.
India's 572 athletes hope to return home with an overflowing treasure chest of medals.
Iran ended seven-time champions India's unchallenged kabaddi domination in the Asian Games since the sport was first introduced in 1990.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal stormed into the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a straight game win over of Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria in Basel.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
India's rising badminton star P V Sindhu, who made headlines after her win over Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui, draws inspiration from Saina Nehwal's on-court performances and wants to be as successful as the World No. 3 some day.
'The Chinese will be gunning for revenge now after Sindhu's victory.'
It was double delight for India as crowd favourites Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth clinched their maiden women and men's singles titles at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament in New Delhi.
Two unassuming young women saved India the humiliation of returning empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time since Barcelona in 1992 with awe-inspiring performances at Rio.
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Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
India's leading badminton player Saina Nehwal says she wants to come back into competitive action stronger after recovering from a knee surgery and indicated that her best may be yet to come.
An Olympic berth is top of her agenda, but Jwala Gutta won't exactly be gutted if it doesn't come about as India's top women's doubles shuttler feels that obsessing about a London ticket would only create unnecessary pressure.
The Andhra lass easily beat Maharashtra's Sonal More in the final of the All India junior ranking badminton tournament.
The Chinar Corps put out photographs and a video of the former captain while playing and interacting with the cricketers and the youths.
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