Srikanth blew two game points in the second game to lose 7-21, 20-22 to Axelsen in the men's singles summit clash.
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stayed on course to reclaim titles while a vintage Parupalli Kashyap too regained some form to seal places in the men's singles semi-finals of the US $350,000 India Open badminton, in Delhi, on Friday.
Indian football team has turned into a decent home side but it is in desperate need for away games, says inspirational skipper Sunil Chhetri, who feels the next target for the country should be a top-10 place in Asia so that the big guns invite them over.
India's campaign in the women's singles of the $350,000 Hong Kong Super Series came to an end after ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was stunned by Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals.
An inspired India battered Oman 8-0 in the opening match of the Asia Cup on Saturday.
India witnessed another fruitful day at the Canada Open as all its shuttlers, including Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy, entered the third round of the $55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament, in Calgary, Canada.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
The medals tally at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and National champion Sameer Verma began the new season on a resounding note by winning the women's and men's singles crowns respectively at the USD 120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Sunday.
India's veteran Leander Paes and his Swiss partner Martina Hingis stayed on course for their third Grand Slam of the year after advancing to the mixed doubles final at the US Open, in New York, on Wednesday night.
Seven-time champion India failed to reach the Asian Games men's kabaddi final for the first time after a shock 18-27 loss to Iran in the semi-finals.
Former World No. 1 Deepika Kumari yet again flopped on the big stage as it turned out to be a depressing day for India's recurve archers, whose challenge ended at the Asian Games, on Thursday.
Neeraj Chopra is not in a mood to be bogged down under pressure and said he is only focussed on producing his best at the upcoming Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
It was a day of mixed fortunes for India's badminton players at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament as Sai Praneeth sneaked into the quarter-finals after a hard-earned victory while compatriots Ajay Jayaram and R M V Gurusaidutt lost their respective men's singles matches.
Six-time champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) was beaten by Turkey's Busenaz Cakiroglu in the semi-finals and had to settle for a bronze medal in the World Women's Boxing Championships, in Ulan-Ude, on Saturday.
An Olympic quota place pocketed, Indian boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) ended his campaign with a silver medal after losing in the final of the Asian/Oceania Qualifying Tournament Qian'an, China on Friday. The 22-year-old Assamese, who is a World Championship bronze-medallist, went down 0-3 to Thailand's Chatchai Butdee in the summit clash. Butdee is the reigning Asian champion. Shiva had booked his ticket to Rio de Janeiro by making the finals yesterday after beating Kazakhstan's Kairat Yeraliyev. Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak once again for L Devendro Singh (49kg), who missed a second opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. The Commonwealth silver-medallist, who lost in the semifinals a day prior, went down in the box-off for the Olympic slot on Friday.
India's campaign at the All England Badminton Championships came to a disappointing end with Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma all exiting from the tournament in Birmingham on Friday.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the Round of 16 after pulling off contrasting wins in the opening round of the US$ 700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament.
India earned their second gold medal at the 17th Asian Games after the men's compound archery team bagged the yellow metal by getting the better of South Korea, in Incheon on Saturday.
India striker Robin Singh, who made his national debut at the Nehru Cup last year, signed a two-year contract with Bangalore-based I-League Club JSW Sports on Thursday.
Sania ousted from Qatar Total Open.
As the curtains come down at the Tokyo Olympics, here's a glance at the medallists and those who came within touching distance of glory.
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black hardly broke a sweat as they entered the US Open women's doubles semifinals after their rivals retired midway through the quarterfinal match in New York.
Jonatan Christie gifted Indonesia the Asian Games gold medal they most yearned for when he beat Taiwan's Chou Tienchen in an exciting men's singles badminton final in front of a vociferous home crowd on Tuesday.
Ace Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal on Thursday stormed into the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships after their straight-game victories over their respective opponents in the women's singles event in Birmingham.
Two-time silver medallist P V Sindhu produced yet another commanding performance as she demolished Beiwen Zhang of United States in straight games to advance to the quarter-finals of the BWF Badminton World Championships.
India's challenge in women's archery at the Rio Olympics ended on Thursday after Laishram Bombayla Devi and Deepika Kumari were beaten in the pre-quarter-finals. While Deepika was blanked 0-6 by world No. 2 Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei, Bombayla lost 2-6 to world No. 18 Alejandra Valencia of Mexico.
'In this year, we had the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships and we have been successful (in those) and that was our target for this year. And I'm happy that at the end of the year they (players) are able to maintain their rankings'
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu yet again struggled to go past China's He Bingjiao and bowed out of the China Open World Tour Super 750, in Fozhou, on Friday.
Verma wins compound individual gold, opens tally for India.
India's struggling singles star Somdev Devvarman was handed a tough opener in the ATP Chennai Open as he is pitted against sixth seed and world number 38 Yen-Hsun Lu.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.'
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarter-finals with easy victories, but the highlight of the third day's proceedings in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament was H S Prannoy's thrilling victory over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen.
The Slovakian eventually won 6-4, 6-1 but the match will be remembered for a ludicrous umpiring decision at a crucial stage of a tight opening set.
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched straight-game victories to progress to the quarter-finals, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the US $700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
Continuing his excellent run at the ATP Indore Open, Indian youngster Ramkumar Ramanathan toppled Chinese Taipei Davis Cupper Ti Chen in a marathon contest to reach his first-ever Challenger-level semi-final in Indore.
India added a silver and bronze to swell their medal tally to six in their controversy-ridden Asian Youth Games campaign on the fifth day of the multi-sporting event, in Nanjing, on Tuesday.
India won their third gold of the competition through Uttarakhand based runner Anu, who clocked 1:54.11 seconds to finish ahead of Iran's Abdolrahim Dorzadeh (1:54.23 seconds).