Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was the lone bright spot for India, entering the semi-finals of the Asian Badminton Championships in Delhi even as all other Indians crashed out in the quarter-finals on Friday.
India had a disappointing day at the Asian Badminton Championships as Aditi Mutatkar crashed out of the women's singles and Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas bowed out of the men's doubles, in Delhi, on Friday.
Top seed Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Asian Badminton Championship after losing her semi-final match against Chinese qualifier Xuerui Li, bringing down the curtains on the Indian challenge at the event in New Delhi on Saturday.
Indian shuttlers had a disappointing day at the Asian Badminton Championships in Johar Baru, Malaysia, on Thursday, most of them bowing out of the competition in various categories.
India's challenge in the men's singles ended with the defeat of P Kashyap but gritty Aditi Mutatkar made her maiden quarter-finals of the Asian Badminton Championship after notching up a thrilling win in New Delhi on Thursday.
Indian shuttlers Gayatri Vartak and PC Tulashi failed to make it to the main draw of the Asian Badminton Championship after losing their respective matches at the qualifying round of the prestigious event being staged at the Siri Fort Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Bangalore lad shocked world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan in a quarter-final match at the Yonex-Sunrise Asian Badminton Championship.
Sony won the men's title beating Kuan Beng Hong of Malaysia 15-10, 15-5 while Chen defeated Japan's Morei Kaori wo the women's crown.
His stupendous run in the Asian Badminton Championship came to an end on Saturday as he went down to Olympic Champion Taufiq Hidayat of Indonesia in the semifinals.
Triple World Champion Lin Dan of China enthralled the audience with a superb display of stroke-play to notch up his first Asian Badminton Champion title, while compatriot Xuerui Li won the title in the women's singles at the Siri Fort stadium in New Delhi on Sunday.
The fifth seed Indian lost 21-12, 10-21, 19-21 in his opening round men's singles tie that lasted 56 minutes.
India's Ajay Jayaram kept his nose ahead of compatriot P Kashyap for the London Olympics qualification as he notched a straight-game victory in the first round of Asia Badminton Championships in Qingdao, China, on Tuesday. Jayaram was the only bright spot on a gloomy day for India as the rest of the country's shuttlers failed to cross the first hurdle at the Qingdao Sports Centre Conson stadium.
Ace shuttler and world number five Saina Nehwal on Thursday crashed out in the second round of the Asia Badminton Championship at Qingdao, China as India wrapped up their campaign on a disappointing note in the tournament.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Friday recommended Kidambi Srikanth for the Khel Ratna award after the top Indian shuttler apologised for pulling out of a tournament midway and show-caused his teammate H S Prannoy for slamming the federation after not being nominated for the Arjuna honour.
Threatened with a ban by the administrators and labelled enfant terrible by her detractors, ace shuttler Jwala Gutta says such has been the 'hurt and pain' of the last six months that she hasn't been able to celebrate her bronze medal success at the recent Asian Badminton Championships to the fullest.
Misfiring Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Barcelona Open on Friday at the hands of fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro who avenged last year's final defeat by winning their quarter-final 2-6, 7-6 (7-5,) 6-4.
London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the US$350,000 Singapore Super Series to spend more time in training to improve her game ahead of the hectic international circuit.
With just two tournaments left for Olympic qualification, Indian contenders for the London Games are looking to rake up ranking points at the Asian Badminton Championships, beginning in Qingdao, China, on Tuesday.
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.
Ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand will spearhead the Indian challenge in the badminton event of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, from October 3 to 14. The Badminton Association of India on Thursday announced a 10-member squad, including five women, for the Games.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Saina Nehwal faces a tricky draw in the Asian Badminton Championships as most of the shuttlers she is likely to play against have defeated her in the past, feels national coach Pullela Gopichand.
The Indian challenge in the Asian Badminton Championship ended with Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhatt crashing out in the quarter-finals.
Parupalli Kashyap beat seventh-seed Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh 21-19, 17-21, 21-11 in a battle lasting an hour to cruise into the quarter-finals of the Asian Badminton Championship. However, the mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta bowed out in the second round of the tournament.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out after a first-round defeat, but P Kashyap and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes afloat, wining their opening men's singles matches in the Asian Badminton Championship in Suwon, Korea, on Wednesday. World No 8 and seventh seed Saina put up a brave effort but eventually ran out of steam against defending champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, losing 21-14, 14-21, 12-21 in a 40-minute battle in the women's singles.
India made a disappointing start in the Asian Badminton Championships with Sayali Gokhale and P C Thulasi crashing out of the qualifying round of the women's singles at the Suwon Indoor Stadium in Korea on Tuesday.
Top Indian shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand crashed out of the Asian badminton championships, as Indian shuttlers had a disastrous start, none of their men and women surviving in the singles competition on the first day itself.
Anup Sridhar beat Bangladesh's Mostafa Jabed Mohammad 21-3, 21-9 in the men's singles.
The Indian ace was shocked by Chen Shih Hao of Chinese Taipei in the Asian Badminton championships.
The Indian ace lost to top seed Lee Chong Wei in the third round at the Asian Badminton Championships.
The Indian shuttler beat Marcus Wijana of Indonesia to advance in the Asian Badminton Championships.
But national champion Chetan Anand fell by the wayside in the the Asian Badminton Championships.
Star shuttler Jwala Gutta once again asked the Badminton Association of India to stop the "step-motherly treatment" towards its doubles players, saying its high time the federation changes its attitude. "I've won medals at the highest level but you're still not capitalising on the achievement. The doubles are still being given a step-motherly treatment. You need to change your attitude," a concerned Jwala told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of the 12th South Asian Games here. "After Ashwini and I, there is nobody and that is the plain truth. It's the doubles, I'm more worried about," a three-time medalist in the Commonwealth Games 2006, 2010 and 2014 lamented. "If we want to compete with China, we have to encourage all the events. We can't just bank on singles all the time. Doubles is taken seriously everywhere except India," the ace shuttler said.
The Indian Badminton League has named Under-19 players for five of its franchises, in addition to those picked at the auction. According to IBL rules, each franchise had to pick an India Under-19 player, who will be the 11th player in the respective squads.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued their winning run at the Malaysia Open notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition at the USD 550,000 Super Series Premier tournament.
China's Chen Long stepped out of compatriot Lin Dan's shadow to spoil Lee Chong Wei's hopes of a golden Olympic swansong and win the men's badminton title in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
Parupalli Kashyap etched his name firmly in the history books by becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 32 years to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.
Having slumped in the rankings, champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap tells Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com how he plans to qualify for the Rio Olympics.