P V Sindhu failed in her quest to win her first BWF World Tour title since the Singapore Open in July 2022, beaten by China's Wang Zhi Yi 21-16, 5-21, 21-16 in the final of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 on Sunday.
The Taiwanese shuttler took an hour and 10 minutes to beat the Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
Sen had emerged victorious in a 21-8, 22-20 straight games win. The result now stands cancelle
The prestigious awards recognise the achievements of the elite badminton players
Sen rallied from a game deficit to defeat Yusuke Onodera of Japan
Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have received a favourable draw for the Paris Olympics beginning July 26.
The 22-year-old from Almora, who had come close to winning an Olympic medal in Paris before finishing fourth, will undergo a series of tests at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Salzburg to get a detailed evaluation to rev up his fitness and game.
Lakshya's Paris hopes brighten, enters No.15 in Olympic Games qualification
The world body has so far maintained that it has no plans to make any adjustments to the regulations related to the Tokyo Games qualification period and that other events will go as per schedule.
Priyanshu Rajawat capped off an impressive week with a thrilling win in the final
Treesa and Gayatri will be up against fourth-seeded Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Chirag-Satwik pair won the Thailand Open in May to reclaim the No.1 ranking but suffered loss of form and made a first-round exit from the Singapore Open last month.
'Otherwise, how will India become a sporting nation and how will we compete to beat China to win 60 Olympic medals?'
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy have been handed relatively easy groups for the Paris Games, which begin on July 26.
PV Sindhu jumped two places to grab the ninth spot, while former World No. 1 Saina, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from a serious injury, slipped five places to 11th spot.
Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap have urged badminton's governing body to reconsider its decision not to extend the qualification period for the Tokyo Games despite several events being cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus.
PV Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games.
'We both are big foodies. We make it a point to go out and try different food after our matches.'
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down to World No 4. pair Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Badminton World Federastion (BWF) unveiled a revised international calendar to salvage the remainder of the season, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sindhu stands on the brink of history as she pursues the gold medal in the upcoming Games, having won a silver and bronze in 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo edition respectively.
Ajay Jayaram, who skipped the ongoing Korea Open, slipped a place to be at 17th.
Former World No 1 Srikanth, who has not won a title at the BWF World Tour in the last 22 months, staved off a spirited a challenge from Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, winning 17-21, 21-16, 21-6 in a match that lasted an hour and six minutes to join Praneeth and Prannoy in the second round.
The Indian badminton team returned empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time in over a decade.
The Indian men's team qualified automatically by virtue of being the defending champions while the women made the cut after winning a historic gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia earlier this year.
The unseeded Indian duo had to toil hard for 58 minutes to win its round of 16 clash
Sindhu, who is currently competing at the French Open in Paris, jumped one rung to stay one spot behind Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, who continues to dominate the rankings.
A new "unreturnable" spin-serve had caught the attention of the world's top badminton players with even the Indian doubles shuttlers putting in the hard yards to master this latest skill, which many believe can give "unfair" advantage to the players.
After Canada Open triumph, Sen jumps 7 places to be at 12th spot in world rankings
The 21-year-old Indian topped the ballot with 129 votes as she led a trio of women onto the BWF Athletes' Commission.
The top-16 in the world by April-end will make the cut for the Olympics.
Coaching is the toughest job: Saina Nehwal on her future
India's Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat suffered straight-game defeats in their respective pre-quarterfinal matches to crash out of the men's singles competition of the Indonesia Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, in Jakarta on Thursday.
Olympic medallist P V Sindhu is also missing in action as she recovers from an injury.
Kidambi Srikanth's opening round match ended in agony as he retired due to a knee injury after lagging 14-21, 3-11 against Japan's fifth seed Kodai Naraoka.
India's Kiran Geroge moves to quarters, Ashmita bows out of Thailand Open
US Open champion Prannoy, who had reached a career-best World No 11 ranking last week, improved a place further to grab the 10th spot. He has been rewarded for his consistent performance this season where he reached the semi-finals at the Indonesia Open and French Open.
The world number nine will play Hong Kong's fifth seed Angus Ng Ka Long in the last eight stage.
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.
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