Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu progressed to the quarter-finals of the All England Championship with a hard-fought win over Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol in women's singles, in Birmingham.
Another impressive week ended with a creditable semifinal finish for star shuttler Lakshya Sen after he stumbled to a three-game loss against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie at the All England Championships in Birmingham on Saturday, prolonging India's long wait for the coveted trophy.
PV Sindhu dominated from start to finish and smashed her way into the second round of the prestigious All England Badminton Championships, in Birmingham, on Wednesday.
Lakshya had struggled through much of 2023 and early part of 2024. He fell behind in the qualification race but turned things around in time with two semi-final finishes at the All England Championship and the French Open to seal his place in the Olympics.
P V Sindhu advanced to the second round after her opponent Li Yvonne Li of Germany retired after the first game.
Rajawat will take on eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand next.
World Championship bronze medallist shuttler Lakshya Sen advanced to the second round with an easy victory against Denmark's Magnus Johannesen.
India's campaign came to a premature halt in the All-England Badminton Championship when ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was thrashed by Chinese Shixian Wang in the quarter-finals of the women's singles in Birmingham on Friday.
The top-16 in the world by April-end will make the cut for the Olympics.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty hardly broke a sweat while defeating the Chinese pair of Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi to win the Thailand Open men's doubles crown in Bangkok on Sunday.
The Indian duo needed just 35 minutes to beat Lu Ming-Che and Tang Kai-Wei of Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals of the Super 500 tournament.
Srikanth outwitted world no. 24 Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei 21-17, 21-18 in a 43-minute contest.
India's campaign at the All England Badminton Championships came to a disappointing end with Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma all exiting from the tournament in Birmingham on Friday.
While Sindhu struggled to get winners, Young kept varying the pace and sending everything back.
It was a smooth performance from Sindhu as she was hardly tested by the Taiwanese qualifier
Sen played four three-game matches last week at the French Open before engaging in two back-to-back long matches in the past couple of days but despite that he was able to maintain a high pace.
Defending champions India's hopes of entering the Thomas Cup knockout stage as group topper were dashed by a clinical Indonesia who emerged 4-1 winners in their final pool match in Chengdu on Wednesday.
Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George won their respective men's singles round-of 16 matches to advance to the quarterfinals late on Thursday night.
Satwik said the losses had not dampened the pair's spirits but made them more hungry for success in Paris.
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced into the second round while Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth made first-round exits at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will meet compatriot HS Prannoy in his opening match, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will square off against a qualifier.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy capped off their impressive campaign with a historic title at the Swiss Open.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed shuttler Lakshya Sen for putting up a spirited fight after he lost in the final of the All England Championships.
P V Sindhu has made early exits in as many as seven of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fell to their second successive semifinal exit at the All England Championship.
It was a mixed day for India in the All England Championship as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichanda clinched a stunning win, while Lakshya Sen crashed out.
Prannoy looked in good touch as he reeled off five points on the trot to zoom to a comfortable 11-4 lead. However, the Indian was guilty of missing the lines twice and also found the net, allowing Wang to cut the deficit to three points at 11-14.
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu marched into the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel.
Two-time Olympic medallist and fourth seed PV Sindhu made a positive start to her title defence on Wednesday, beating Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland 21-9, 21-16 in a lopsided opening round women's singles match.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continued their impressive run, dishing out another superlative performance to advance to their second successive semi-finals at the All England Championships.
It is Sindhu's first final since winning the gold and the Commonwealth Games last year.
I am overwhelmed and humbled with all the love and support I have received from so many fans in India and all over the world and just wanted to say a big 'Thank You' to everyone," said the 20-year-old from Almora.
It's going to be a hell of journey, says Sindhu welcoming new coach Hafiz Hashim
Treesa committed a few errors but the Indian duo still managed to keep its nose ahead, despite the fighting Taiwanese pair.
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.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
The Indian duo outclassed the Danish pair of Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede in the quarter-finals.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
This is the third time this year that Sindhu has been knocked out in the first round of the tournaments she's played.
Legendary Indian badminton player Prakash Padukone has tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering from the infection at a hospital in Bengaluru.
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