India's leading badminton player Saina Nehwal has dropped four places to be No 9 in the latest world rankings while P V Sindhu remains No 10 despite winning a silver medal in the Rio Olympics.
None of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouth-watering opening round clashes to look forward to.
PV Sindhu's gallant effort to become India's first ever World Champion ended in a heart-wrenching defeat against Nozomi Okuhara in an epic final, in Glasgow, on Sunday.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday promised to allot five acres of land in the port city of Visakhapatnam to ace shuttler P V Sindhu for setting up a badminton academy for girls.
India's P V Sindhu hopes no one will ever question her ability to win big titles, relieved at breaking the finals jinx with a historic triumph at the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
The match comes on the heels of one of the biggest upsets in badminton history on Wednesday night, when men's singles world number one Kento Momota's Olympic dreams were crushed by number 38 South Korea's Heo Kwang-hee.
India's PV Sindhu scripted history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the final at the Olympics when she shocked Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games in the women's singles at the Rio Games on Thursday.
P V Sindhu progressed to the final of the women's singles event at the US$600,000 Korea Open Super Series, at the SK Handball Stadium in Seoul on Saturday.
Carolina Marin of Spain beat Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 18-21, 22-20 to win the Hong Kong Open.
India's first world badminton champion P V Sindhu said her next aim is to bag the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
The Rio Olympics gold medallist had withdrawn from the All England Championships this year after suffering the injury during the Swiss Open.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu met P V Sindhu, who recently became the first Indian shuttler to win gold at the World Championships, at his residence, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.
Leading the congratulatory messages from the film industry for the ace shuttler were Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
With her silver from Rio, PV Sindhu is already India's most successful female Olympian but her World Championship triumph also boosted the nation's hopes of a medal in Tokyo next year.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P V Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday. Saina, who clinched her second Australian Open title earlier this month, exchanged places with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who now occupies the sixth spot in the women's singles list headed by Spain's Carolina Marin.
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.
Japan beat China 3-1 in the final of the women's team event to secure the country's first badminton gold medal at an Asian Games since 1998.
Ace Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, had a disappointing start to their campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals as they suffered straight-game defeats on the opening day of the prestigious event in Dubai.
Rio Olympics and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu stood one step away from winning the Korea Open Super Series, in Seoul, on Saturday.
The Olympic silver-medallist, who out-played Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in a lop-sided final in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday, earlier addressed the frenzied media at the Indira Gandhi InternationalAirport in New Delhi on Monday
P V Sindhu advanced into the women's singles final
P V Sindhu breezed into the summit clash of the World Tour Finals for the second successive time after prevailing over 2013 World champion Ratchanok Intanon in a tense semi-final.
Fourth seeded Sindhu took 39 minutes to get the better of World No 22 Mia 21-13, 21-19, her second straight win over the Dane.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in hailing PV Sindhu's awe-inspiring performance at the World Championship, where she ended a silver-medallist after losing a breathtaking final.
Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth beat compatriot Sameer Verma 22-20, 19-21, 23-21 in an absorbing men's singles quarter-final to enter the semi-finals of the Denmark Open, in Odense, on Friday night. The Indian ace will meet second seeded Japanese and world No 1 Kento Momota, who got the better of Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab 21-13, 21-9 in another quarter-final.
Top Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram notched up contrasting victories in the women's and men's singles competition respectively to reach the semi-finals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, in Kuching.
India's hopes of winning a medal in badminton team events at the 18th Asian Games went up in smoke after the men's and women's sides bowed out of the competition following identical 1-3 defeats in the quarter-finals in Jakarta on Monday.
'We actually have a big vacuum in terms of producing coaches of quality and it's not a training program. It's an ecosystem issue. So, we need to work harder to bridge that gap'
The fifth seeded Indian will face Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani next.
Eight seeded Saina defetaed Okuhara 21-15, 21-14 late last night to improve her head-to-head record to 6-1 against her Japanese opponent.
Star Indian shuttler P V Sindhu cruised into the quarter-finals of the All England Championships women's singles with a straight-game win over Sung Ji Hyun of Korea, in Birmingham, on Thursday.Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen was knocked out after losing in straight games to Victor Axelsen.
Sindhu lost 7-21, 11-21 to World No. 3 Okuhara in a lop-sided contest.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, on Sunday, congratulated star India shuttler P V Sindhu for winning the Korea Open Super Series title in Seoul.
India's PV Sindhu outclassed World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi in straight games to storm into the final of the World Championships in Nanjing
PV Sindhu, who also won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, admitted that she felt bad when people said she has a 'final phobia'. She was desperate to win the World Championships title last year after a string of runner-up finishes
Sindhu, seeded fifth, slugged it out for one hour and two minutes to get the better of Blichfeldt
Sindhu has said while there will be a lot of expectations on her going into the Tokyo Olympics
Defending champion Saina Nehwal sailed into the semi-finals of the US $700,000 China Open Super Series Premier after a straight games' victory over Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, at the Haixia Olympic Sports Centre, in Fuzhou, on Friday.
Norma Godinho challenges sporting know-it-alls.
Saina Nehwal scripted a remarkable victory over reigning World Champion Carolina Marin to turn around her campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals even as Srikanth faced exit after suffering his second straight loss in the men's singles in Dubai.
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