The Badminton Association of India too would hope Saina has gold to declare when she lands at Delhi airport after the Olympics. For that would establish the BAI as a soothsayer of sorts, writes TS Sudhir
Was it badminton sensation PV Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win the World Championships gold medal? Or is it the young shooting progidy Saurabh Chaudhary? Or his India colleague Elavenil Valarivan, who recently took over as World No 1? What about India's heroes on the cricketing field -- Virat Kohli? Rohit Sharma?
Raising hopes for a medal in next month's London Olympics, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal on Sunday won the Indonesia Open Super Series title after beating world number three Xuerui Li of China in a hard-fought summit clash in Jakarta.
Saina Nehwal's struggle for form summed up a disappointing year for Indian Badminton, the rare high point of which was Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's World Championships bronze medal.
Indian shuttlers lower down the ranks, who get pittance as prize money, are in for a bonanza when they take part as members of one of the franchisee outfits at the proposed Indian Badminton League.
Despite clinching the Macau Open title for the third time, India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu remained static at 12th position in the latest BWF world ranking released on Thursday. Saina Nehwal also held on to her number two position but a poor run of form saw K Srikanth lose a spot and slip to World No. 9.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal opens her campaign in the India Open World Super Series tournament against Asian Games bronze medallist Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong. The event, which begins in Delhi on April 24, will double up as the final qualifying meet for the London Olympics.
Rediff.com gives you a glimpse of the stars that lit up the night at the awards ceremony...
Of the top 15 on Forbes' list of best-paid female athletes, 12 were tennis players. Indian badminton player PV Sindhu came in tied for 13th ($5.5 million), with Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn ($5.3 million) rounding out the top 15.
Young men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too entered the quarter-finals after getting past Chinese Taipei's Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng 21-17, 21-16 in the second round.
Spearheaded by Malaysian world No 1 Lee Chong Wei, Mumbai Masters took a winning 3-1 lead over Delhi Smashers in the Indian Badminton League match at the NSCI courts, in Mumbai, on Tuesday night.
The Indian badminton ace tells Bikash Mohapatra how the legendary Rudy Hartono inspired him to greatness.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the Indian athletes who will represent the country at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap speaks to Harish Kotian/Rediff.com about his recent triumph over world No. 1 Chen Long of China and why he wants the Indian Badminton League to be revived.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand admitted to crammed BWF itinerary causing a problem but at the same time believes that onus is on a player of PV Sindhu's calibre to adapt to the calendar instead of complaining about it. Apart from the World Championships gold, Sindhu failed to win any other tournament last year.
His repeated requests for rehabilitation ignored, Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Parupalli Kashyap is flummoxed after being sent air tickets to join the Indian badminton squad at the South Asian Games despite being laid low by an abdominal strain.
A day after taking the world No 2 ranking, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal scaled another peak by signing her first brand endorsement deal with American direct selling company Herbalife.
World No 1 men's shuttler Lee Chong Wei's coach Tey Seu Bock of Malaysia was appointed chief coach of Mumbai Masters for the inaugural Vodafone Indian Badminton League on Sunday.
The Badminton Association of India's disciplinary committee has recommended a life ban on top Indian doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta for trying to stop some players of her franchise Krrish Delhi Smashers from playing a match against Banga Beats in the Indian Badminton League.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ace shuttler Saina Nehwal for winning the Australian Open Super Series event in Sydney, on Sunday.
World No 1 shuttler Saina Nehwal presented the racquet with which she won a silver medal at the Badminton World Championships to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an advanced birthday present, on Wednesday.
Having risen swiftly to the No 2 ranking in world badminton, Indian ace Saina Nehwal is confident of ascending to the summit soon.
Ace Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal has become the World No 2 according to the lastest rankings and is just behind current World No 1 Yihan Wang of China.
India's Siril Verma climbed a whopping 11 rungs to take the number one spot in the junior men's singles category of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings on Thursday.
Way ahead of the targets she set herself for 2010, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal is now aiming for the world number one ranking by the end of this year.
Congratulate Saina Nehwal on her success at Singapore.
After guiding Hyderabad Hotshots to the inaugural Indian Badminton League title, Saina Nehwal has cited fatigue and will skip the Japan Open Super Series tournament.
Kidambi Srikanth, whose stature has grown immensely following a phenomenal 2017, was nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri award by former Sports Minister Vijay Goel.
As a successful but physically draining year draws to a close, one half of Indian badminton's most formidable mixed doubles pair, Jwala Gutta, is now aiming for a Super Series title in the new season to ensure a good build-up to the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi next year.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal notched up her first title after a career-threatening injury by claiming the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold with a hard-fought victory in the summit clash in Sarawak, Malaysia, on Sunday.
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal, who recently won the Indonesian Open, on what it takes to be a champion.
Rising shuttlers PV Sindhu and K Srikanth lead the way for Awadhe Warriors as they crushed Krrish Delhi Smashers 4-1 in the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL) in Pune.
Hyderabad Hotshots, spearheaded by Indian badminton icon Saina Nehwal, brought down the high-flying, unbeaten Pune Pistons with a comprehensive 4-1 victory in the Indian Badminton League, at the NSCI courts, in Mumbai.
Saina Nehwal says Tai Tzu-Ying's repertoire of shots and the ability to not restrict her game to a set pattern makes the World No 1 from Chinese Taipei a very difficult player to beat at the moment.
'Well, I think every year, in the last few years, has been better than the previous one'
Indian batting mainstay Virat Kohli, tennis star Sania Mirza and top-seeded badminton player Saina Nehwal lead the pack of over 50 Indians in Forbes' inaugural list of top promising young leaders and game changers under the age of 30 in Asia.
Beijing Olympics-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal's participation in the first Tata Open badminton tournament, to be held in Mumbai, from July 27-31 is in doubt. While the former is nursing an injury, the latter is still to confirm her entry.
Indian badminton star and Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was Thursday ruled out along withParupalli Kashyap from the 12th South Asian Games due to injury concerns, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) informed the local organisers in Shillong. "We've received a communication from BAI stating that the entire badminton squad except for Saina and Kashyap is arriving on Friday afternoon," SAG (Shillong) joint CEO FR Kharkongor told PTI. Saina and Kashyap are two of the top badminton athletes for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio. Jwala Gutta has been confirmed as the captain of the Indian team by BAI President Akhilesh Das Gupta.
Denmark's Mathias Boe is extremely annoyed. And in his anger this shuttler from Denmark has vowed to not visit India after appearing in Thomas Cup next year.
Young Indian shuttlers K Srikanth and H S Prannoy advanced to the quarter-finals of men's singles at the Japan Open, but it was curtains for teen sensation P V Sindhu in the US $200,000 Super Series event, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, on Thursday.
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