A summary of Indian athletes' performance on Day 7 of the Games.
Brimming with confidence, India will again look to punch above their weight when they run into 14-time winners Indonesia in the final of Thomas Cup in Bangkok on Sunday, seeking to create history one more time.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals but a heartbreak was in store for P V Sindhu, who suffered a shock defeat to Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Thursday.
India has entered the final of the Thomas Cup for the first time since the tournament began 73 years back.
On the eighth day of CWG 2018, the 22-year-old from Hyderabad made everything look so easy as she clinched a comfortable 21-15, 21-9 win over Wendy Chen in a one-sided last-16 clash of the women's singles event that lasted 34 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena.
Legendary Prakash Padukone was revered as the world number one player during his hey days before the modern day computerised ranking system was introduced.
Saina Nehwal, who won a bronze at the World Championship, jumped four rungs to be placed at the 12th spot, while Kidambi Srikanth also improved two positions in the latest BWF World ranking.
World championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen entered his maiden World Tour Super 500 summit clash on Saturday with a come-from-behind win over Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open in New Delhi.
India's top-five finish not a given this time
Unheralded Indian Subhankar Dey shocked multiple time World and Olympic champion Lin Dan 22-20, 21-19 to enter the quarter-finals of the SaarLorLux Open Badminton Championship.
Srikanth showed great determination to outwit Korea's World No 25 Lee Dong Keun 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a second-round clash that clocked an hour and 13 minutes. The Indian had lost twice to the 27-year-old Korean in the past two meetings.
Following her bronze-medal finish at the recently-concluded World badminton Championships, India's top shuttler P V Sindhu has re-entered the top-10 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday.
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.
Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been in the form of his life for about a year now.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
If Saina manages to go past Okuhara, the Indian might run into fourth seed Carolina Marin, who is placed in her half of the draw.
HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma are the men's singles players who have decided to withdraw while doubles specialists Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have also opted out. Leading Indian women's singles players PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - both previous Olympic medallists - are making the trip to England, as are their male counterparts Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth.
Rediff.com introduces you to the athletes who have brought India glory in Birmingham.
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.
Saina dropped two spots to third in the women's singles list, and is placed below Spaniard Carolina Marin (80752), who rose a rung following her Australian Open title triumph.
It has emerged now that Prannoy's name was recommended by Gopichand on June 3 in his capacity as a Khel Ratna Award recipient.
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.
Check out the BEST Images from Day 7 of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
A summary of Indian athletes showing on Friday, Day 8 of the Commonwealth Games.
Riding on her title-triumph at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, India's P V Sindhu, on Thursday, jumped one place to be just outside the top 10 in the latest BWF ranking.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his fine form to enter the men's singles semi-finals but Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu bowed out of the Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney, on Friday.
Rio Olympics quarterfinalist K Srikanth emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open after he reached the last eight stage of the men's singles competition at the Super Series event in Tokyo on Thursday. However, it wasn't the sort of victory that Srikanth would have ever wished for as his match against compatriot Ajay Jayaram was stopped midway after the 28-year-old Mumbai-based shuttler injured his left ankle.
Rising player Lakshya Sen went down to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
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.
P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to enter the quarter-finals of the US $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Penang, on Thursday.
The London Olympic bronze medallist will face either Denmark's Line Christophersen or compatriot Ira Sharma for a place in the finals at the Super 100 event, which is a part of BWF's revised Olympic qualification events.
A recap of the performance by Indian athletes on Day 10 at the Rio Olympics on Monday
Young Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha recorded the first upset of the India Open when she stunned fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya while top seed P V Sindhu sailed into the women's singles second round of the tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
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.
The Indian mixed badminton team claimed its maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal, thrashing three-time defending champions Malaysia in the final, in Gold Coast.
Srikanth was to play against Momota in the first round on Wednesday but the Japanese world number one pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday
P V Sindhu and K Srikanth have been given the top billing in the respective women's and men's singles badminton competitions of the Commonwealth Games
Rediff.com gives you a glimpse of the personalities that graced the event:
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