Making a comeback after undergoing a knee surgery, top Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal says that she sometimes feels her badminton career could come to an end due to the injuries she has suffered. Saina, recently made a member of the International Olympic Committee's Athletics Commission, is returning to action at the China Super Series Premier starting November 15. The 26-year-old Saina had developed a knee problem a week before she was to leave for Rio Olympics and she carried the injury through the Games before she made an early exit by losing her second match.
Saina Nehwal suffered a stunning straight-game defeat in the second round but P Kashyap and P V Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of the India Open Super Series in New Delhi on Thursday.
Indian teen sensation P V Sindhu made sure of a second consecutive bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal after she was beaten in straight games in the women's singles quarter-finals at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen on Friday.
15-year-old Saina Nehwal created a sensation when she upset eight-time national champion Aparna Popat in the final of the Asian Satellite Championship.
After breaking into the elite zone of top-10 players, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman shuttler to be named most promising player of the year by the Badminton World Federation.
India's campaign in the women's singles came to an early end at the US $500,000 Malaysia Super Series Premier badminton tournament after Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu lost their second round matches, in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday. While Olympic bronze medallist Saina went down narrowly to lower-ranked Yao Xue of China 21-16, 10-21, 19-21 in 56 minutes, Sindhu was beaten by sixth seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea 16-21, 19-21 in 45 minutes at the Putra Stadium.
The Indian hockey team entered the Olympic semifinals for a second successive edition but Lakshya Sen's zealous push for a gold turned into a hunt for bronze on a bitter-sweet Sunday for India at the Paris Games.
The 25-year-old Arvind Bhat defeated local favourite Yan Kit Chan in straight sets 21-14, 21-19, while Saina Nehwal had to fight a tough battle to overcome Youn Joo Bae of Korea 21-15, 12-21, 21-13, in the second round.
Back on the court after a month, Saina Nehwal will battle it out against a tough field while the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju will aim for a second title at the Japan Open Super Series.
With a badminton racquet in hand and a song on mind, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh met Indian ace badminton player Saina Nehwal on the sets of his upcoming film Dilwale.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round, but it was a disappointing day for India's men as two of them made an early exit from the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton, in Shah Alam, on Wednesday.
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal stunned fourth seed Chen Wang of Hong Kong 21-19, 11-21, 21-11 to enter the quarter-finals at the Beijing Games.
The Indian ace frittered away a 10-1 lead in the second game before going down 21-16, 21-19 to second seed Lin Wang in the quarter-finals.
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.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal got a shot in the arm ahead of next month's Olympics as she lifted the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold title after rallying to beat Thailand's Ratchanok Inthanon in the final of the event in Bangkok on Sunday.
National champion Saina Nehwal tried every trick in her book but failed to get the better of top seeded Chinese Xie Xingfang in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Friday. The Indian ace lost 16-21, 17-21.
The London Olympics bronze medallist beat world No. 73 Brazilian Vicente Lohaynny 21-17, 21-17 in 39 minutes, while Sindhu, a two-time World Championships bronze winner, had things her way against Laura Sarosi of Hungary, winning 21-8, 21-9 in 27 minutes.
Saina Nehwal's dream of pocketing back-to-back titles were dashed by Chinese qualifier Xin Wang, who beat her in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Johor Bahru on Friday. The Indian second seed cut a sorry figure as Wang took just 26 minutes to score a 21-14, 21-10 victory.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Hong Kong Super Series badminton tournament after a straight-game quarter-final defeat to lower-ranked Tine Baun of Denmark, while giant-killer RMV Gurusaidutt also made an exit, on Friday.
The quarter-finals bug bit Saina Nehwal yet again at the badminton World Championships.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal staved off a scare from Indonesia's Adrianti Firdasari to reach the women's singles quarter-finals in the Singapore Open Badminton Super Series in Singapore City on Thursday. The sixth seeded Indian ace beat 19th-ranked Firdasari 21-18, 17-21, 21-17 in a 50-minute battle to set up a clash with third seed Chinese Lin Wang on Friday.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal hardly broke sweat in a straight games victory over Chinese Taipei's Shao Chieh Cheng, which gave her a berth in the women's singles quarter-finals of the Malaysian Super Series badminton, in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday. The fourth seed rode on her smashes and better net play to outwit Cheng 21-19, 21-8 in 31 minutes.
Sameer Verma stayed on course for his title defence while three-time former champion Saina Nehwal too reached the semifinals with an easy win
India's challenge in the Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Super Series came to an end on Friday after both Arvind Bhat and Saina Nehwal bowed out in the quarter-finals.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal booked her place in the finals of the Denmark Super Series Premier tournament after world number one opponent Yihan Wang of China retired midway through the semi-final clash because of a knee injury.
Media hype after winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal might have affected the Saina Nehwal's performance in last month's Asian Games in Guangzhou and led to her early exit, according to badminton legend Prakash Padukone.
Four years after a bronze at London Games made her the toast of the nation, Saina Nehwal will once again carry a billion hopes when she along with the other six shuttlers, including doubles exponent Jwala Gutta, begin their campaign at the Rio Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday.
Rio Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu entered the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Super Series after posting a hard-fought victory over Singapore's Xiaoyu Liang even as Saina Nehwal bowed of the competition on Friday, ending all hopes of a Saina-Sindhu semi-final battle.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal faces the prospect of an early exit from the BWF World Superseries Finals after going down to Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in a Group B match in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
'No country can take India and its badminton players lightly,' says London Olympics medalist Saina Nehwal.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Disappointing the spectators at the Sardar Patel NSCI Stadium, Saina Nehwal pulled out of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) opener between Awadhe Warriors and Mumbai Rockets, citing a foot injury.
Fourth seed Saina Nehwal made a shock first round exit from the China Open as Indian challenge ended in the singles events of the prestigious badminton tournament, in Shanghai, on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal failed to produce her vintage form of recent years as the Indian ace suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Malaysian Julia Pei Xian Wong in the quarter-finals to crash out of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open in Hyderabad on Friday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal thumped Hung Yung Chan of Hong Kong in straight games to sail into the quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open in Hyderabad on Thursday. Women's second-seed Saina rode on the unforced errors of her opponent and thrashed her 21-8, 21-8 to set up a quarter-final clash with fifth-seed Xian Wong of Malaysia.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the French Open Super Series on a positive note, thrashing Jie Yao of Holland in straight-games to reach the second round of the women's singles event at Paris on Wednesday.
Still smarting from her second-round exit in Denmark last week, Saina Nehwal will seek redemption when she starts her campaign at the French Open Super series, which begins with the qualifiers at Paris on Tuesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal suffered a straight-game 19-21, 13-21 defeat to Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in the second round and crashed out of the Denmark Open Super Series, at Odense, on Thursday. However, Jwala Gutta and V Diju kept the tri-colour fluttering after a 21-16, 21-19 victory over Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier of England in the second round of the mixed doubles.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narendra Batra feels Sports Ministry should allow the parents of star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal to accompany them at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Saina Nehwal beat third seed Shixian Wang of China 22-20, 21-12 in the semi-finals of the girls' singles. However, another Indian, fifth seed Gurusaidutt's lost to third seed Zhengming Wang of China 16-21, 21-17, 17-21 in the semi-finals of the boys' singles.
