Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Hong Kong Super Series after losing to former world No 1 Wang Lin of China in the second round on Thursday. The third-seeded Indian failed to match Wang, currently ranked No 61, with her smashes and went down 19-21, 15-21 in 37 minutes.
Still recovering from a foot injury and a recurring fever, defending champion Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the women's singles competition at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
Seventeen shooters, prominent among who is Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, are among 45 athletes selected by the government for financial assistance under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme.
When Pusarla Sindhu won a gold medal at the 2012 Asian junior badminton championships, her cricketing hero Sachin Tendulkar presented her with a car. One can only guess at the reception the 21-year-old player will receive when she returns into the arms of 1.3 billion Indians after becoming the country's most successful female Olympian with her silver-medal performance in Rio. The fact that she had been beaten 19-21 21-12 21-15 by Spanish world number one Carolina Marin in the final mattered little for a country that until Friday had won a solitary bronze at these Games.
Saina Nehwal continued to gain in confidence ahead of Olympics as the top-seeded Indian entered the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold final after outlasting local favourite Porntip Buranaprasertsuk with a straight-game win in Bangkok on Saturday.
All-England and World champion Carolina Marin beat Indian ace Saina Nehwal to win the 'Female Player of the Year' award in Dubai on Monday night. Besides, Saina, Marin, who won five World Superseries titles, held off competition from China's Zhao Yunlei and Bao Yixin.
P V Sindhu caused the biggest upset in the women's singles of the badminton tournament at the Rio Games, shocking China's world No 2 Wang Yihan 22-20, 21-19 to enter the semi-finals on Tuesday night.
After cashing in on the Munni campaign to market the Zandu Balm brand in 2010, the company has now roped in five sporting icons -- cricketer Gautam Gambhir, Olympic medal winning boxer Vijender Singh, badminton champion Saina Nehwal, five-time world boxing champion Mary Kom and wrestler Sushil Kumar -- for its Fast Relief brand.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal stamped her authority to storm into the final of the French Super Series outclassing German Juliane Schenk in straight sets in the women's badminton singles in Paris.
Fresh from her maiden Denmark Open title triumph, India ace Saina Nehwal started her French Open Super Series campaign in style, registering a hard-fought win over China's Li Han in women's singles event in Paris.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, who earned India its first badminton medal at the Olympics winning a bronze at London Games, on Thursday regained her fourth position in women's world rankings released.
The Rio Olympic silver-medallist knocked out defending champion Nozomi Okuharabeat 21-17, 21-19 to advance.
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee and to big names in Indian sport and politics, the applause pours in for the Hyderabadi tennis ace.
The enormity of her achievement has gradually started sinking in, but for Saina Nehwal, standing on the podium and receiving an Olympic medal, still feels like a dream.
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal set up a semifinal clash against old nemesis and World No. 1 Yihan Wang of China after easing past local hope Tine Baun in straight games at the Denmark Open badminton tournament in Odense, Denmark.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal returned to a rousing reception on Tuesday after winning a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London.
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.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging comeback and notched up a straight games victory over Minatsu Mitani of Japan to advance to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Super Series.
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