Olympic silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu admitted that there is more responsibility on her shoulders post the Rio Games as everyone now wants her to achieve more laurels for the country. Sindhu, who was here to receive Rs 30 lakhs from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as prize money for winning silver in Rio Olympics, said she is focused on keeping things simple despite the responsibility. "Definitely there is more responsibility and everybody's eyes are on me to achieve more. That is there but I said to myself I should not take too much pressure. My aim is to keep playing well. After the Olympics, I have won a Superseries and I have done well," the lanky Hyderabadi shuttler said.
Earlier, the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy suffered their second successive loss in the event, going down fighting 19-21, 20-22 to Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva to bow out of contention.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is currently in a tight spot in her bid for a Tokyo Olympics singles berth but a couple of good performances in the coming weeks can put her back in contention, her mentor Parupalli Kashyap said on Friday. Saina, a 2015 World Championship silver medallist and two-time Commonwealth Games champion, is racing against time to make the cut for her fourth successive Olympics.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Chennai Smashers put up a clinical display to outplay Delhi Acers 4-3 and register their second consecutive win in an exciting Premier Badminton League (PBL) encounter in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu set up a mouth-watering summit clash with Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin after a hard-fought win over World No 4 Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the semi-finals of the India Super Series, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
European aviation major Airbus has chosen Goa to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for the EC 725 helicopter, provided it wins the over Rs 2,000 crore Coast Guard contract for which it has pitched.
Star shuttler H S Prannoy has credited top women shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal for the positive change in mindset of other players while facing tougher opponents.
Jwala says Sindhu should scan through all the videos of her past matches and work on her strategy.
India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal tied the knot with fellow badminton player and long time partner Parupalli Kashyap in Hyderabad on Friday.
Enduring the worst injury phase of his career, Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap says he had doubts if he would be able to play again after dislocating his right shoulder at the Premier Badminton League in January.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
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.
Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
P V Sindhu, K Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Subhankar Dey, B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma scored easy first round singles victories, while the pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa shocked a fancied Malaysian pair to enter the second round of the women's doubles.
Recovering from an ankle injury, star India shuttler Saina Nehwal said she will look to get back to her full fitness during the three weeks break after the India Open next month.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, on Sunday, said his ward B Sai Praneeth needs to be consistent and hoped the win at Singapore Open will take his game to another level.
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.
Jwala Gutta said that before comparing ourselves to badminton giants like China and Japan, India should look to improve the quality of doubles' players. Jwala also questioned the logic of holding the national camp only at the Gopichand academy.
The world body has so far maintained that it has no plans to make any adjustments to the regulations related to the Tokyo Games qualification period and that other events will go as per schedule.
A true indicator of the country's fanatic obsession with cricket is that the player with the third highest endorsement value is someone who retired from the game in 2012: Sachin Tendulkar.
All eyes will be on Indian ace Saina Nehwal when she returns to the court after an injury lay-off at the All England Championship, hoping to better last year's runner-up finish at the prestigious event which begins with the qualifiers in Birmingham.
Two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, India's P V Sindhu made a rousing start to the new season as she clinched the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold title after defeating Scotland's Kristy Gilmour in straight games in the final, in Penang, on Sunday.
Indian women's badminton team assured itself of at least a bronze medal after notching a comfortable 3-1 win over Thailand in the quarter-finals of the Uber Cup, in Kunshan, on Thursday.
The London Olympics bronze medallist was trailing 4-10 in the opening game when Marin decided to withdraw from the contest.
'I have to be more consistent in the coming months,' Kidambi Srikanth, who won the Indonesia Super Series Premier and the Australia Super Series earlier this year and the Denmark Open on Sunday, tells Amit Kumar Das in Odense, Denmark.
Marin Carolina has come a long way to be the reigning Olympic and world champion but the Spaniard yearns for more as she continues her journey towards becoming the best-ever in the sport.
The Hong Kong Open finalist, Sameer reached the quarter-finals with a shocking 21-17, 21-15 win in a 40-minute match.
The World No. 2 had pulled out of Badminton Asia Team Championships because of injury earlier this month, and also exempted herself from participating in the Lucknow Open and South Asian Championships to work on her fitness.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday said India has adequate infrastructure for badminton but don't have enough coaches and academies. "There is no problem on infrastructure front, but what we don't have enough number of academies and coaches, like the Chinese have," she told PTI. Saina has been practising in Bengaluru after recovering from a knee injury which had affected her progress at Rio Olympics. She had lost her second group match against Ukraine's Maria Ulitina to crash out of the mega event.
India's badminton ace P V Sindhu believes she would be in top form at the BWF's World Tour Final as a recent break gave her the time to be well-prepared for the season-ending tournament, starting on December 12.
India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu did the star turn, winning two matches as Chennai Smashers outclassed Ahmedabad Smash Masters 2-1 in the Premier Badminton League in Chennai, on Saturday.
H S Prannoy, feels a high ranking would help players avoid meeting top shuttlers in early rounds, while conceding that the primary focus should be on winning big events.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, who has been on a comeback trail after undergoing a surgery on her right knee, said that she was not fully fit in her last two tournaments but played in them as she wanted to test herself against top players in that physical condition. Former world number one Saina lost in the quarterfinals in Hong Kong Open Super Series and Macau Open Grand Prix Gold tournaments after her surgery. "I am recovering well, I played two tournaments and reached quarterfinals and that was just the starting. I would say after the rehabilitation, I just played for 2-3 weeks and I just wanted to test myself how good I am at that stage and although I knew I was not 100 per cent fit, I wanted to come back and play with highest level players," Saina told PTI.
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.
It is the surprise element of the unheralded shutters, who could pose a bigger threat to his medal aspirations at next month's Commonwealth Games.
Ecstatic after clinching a maiden Grand Prix title at the Brazil Open, the Indian mixed doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra have set their sights on winning a medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
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