Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, B Sai Praneeth enter quarter-finals of Macau Open
Noted industrialist and diversified business conglomerate Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra on Sunday said he would 'personally' hand over a TUV300 to shuttler Kidambi Srikanth for winning the Australian Open Super Series title.
Two-time silver medallist P V Sindhu produced yet another commanding performance as she demolished Beiwen Zhang of United States in straight games to advance to the quarter-finals of the BWF Badminton World Championships.
Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy won two bronze medals in the recently-concluded Junior World Badminton Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. There was more good news for India, as Parneeth, Prannoy, among the boys, and PV Sindhu, girls, qualified for the Youth Olympic Games, to be held at Singapore in August.
Rejuvenated after a month-long break from a hectic BWF schedule, Sindhu and Srikanth prevailed over Japanese shuttlers Aya Ohori and Kenta Nishimoto in women's and men's singles respectively.
Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu will look to shrug off the disappointment of last week's second round exit at Denmark Open and eye her maiden Super Series women's singles title when she competes at the French Open this week. The sixth seeded Indian, who had lost to Japan's Sayaka Sato in second round at Odense, will open her campaign against Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin at Stade Pierre de Coubertin.
Pullela Gopichand expects Indian athletes to claim an unparalleled double digit medal haul at the Olympics
Woman wrestler Pooja Dhanda won India's first medal at the Youth Olympic Games while shuttlers Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy kept themselves in contention after the second day in the inaugural event in Singapore. After beating three opponents without conceding a point, Pooja lost 1-3 to Baatarzorig Battsetseg of Mongolia in the final and had to settle for a silver in the 60kg freestyle category.
Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy will represent India in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the young shuttlers said they would settle for nothing less than a gold in the inaugural edition of mega-event starting on August 13.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Srikanth fought better in the second, but Yew was too good on the day, to emerge triumphant.
Kashyap, ranked 25 in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against seventh seed Axelsen and went down 13-21, 19-21
Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women's singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes
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.
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.
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.
Airbadminton was globally launched at Guangzhou last week by the Badminton World Federation
Top Indian shuttlers, PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the women's singles quarter-finals and men's singles pre-quarterfinals, respectively, of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Kuching.
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.
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
Her reluctance to appear for BAI trials could well end her chances of representing the flag
Rising player Lakshya Sen went down to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
Former World No 1 Srikanth, who has not won a title at the BWF World Tour in the last 22 months, staved off a spirited a challenge from Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, winning 17-21, 21-16, 21-6 in a match that lasted an hour and six minutes to join Praneeth and Prannoy in the second round.
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.
S D S Krishna and Monisha Vinayak, both of Karnataka, endured strong challengers in the final qualifying round before sealing berths in the men's and women's main draw respectively, in the first Tata Open All India Badminton Tournament at the Bombay Gymkhana on Monday.
A fit-again P Kashyap of India resumed his journey in international badminton by notching up a comfortable win, while H S Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram also advanced to the second round of Indonesia Grand Prix Gold in Balikpapan, Indonesia on Wednesday.
Kidambi Srikanth created history as he became the first Indian man to enter the World Badminton Championships final after edging compatriot Lakshya Sen in a thrilling semi-final, in Huelva, Spain on Saturday. Srikanth rallied after losing
Expectations will be sky-high when Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu returns to international circuit this week, spearheading the Indian campaign at Denmark Open Superseries Premier badminton tournament starting in Odense from Tuesday. A slew of felicitation programs kept her busy in the last one and a half month after Sindhu returned from Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Indian badminton player to win a silver and her legions of fans will expect her to replicate the Olympic success when she competes this week. The sixth-seeded Indian will open her campaign against China's He Bingjiao on Wednesday. Sindhu has been clubbed in the second half of the draw where she might face the likes of second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, Korean fourth seed Sung Ji Hyun and the tricky Chinese Taipei girl Tai Tzu Ying, seeded fifth.
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.
The Awadhe Warriors virtually assured itself a berth in the semi-finals but it turned out to be a disappointing day for the Hyderabad Hunters in the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) here today. The Warriors registered an emphatic 4-1 win over Chennai Smashers in the evening match but the Hunters were out of contention for a semi-final berth following their 1-4 loss against Mumbai Rockets early in the day at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad. Awadhe gained two points with a win in the Mixed Doubles clash, which was the Trump match for both sides, and bagged two more points by defeating Chennai in Men's Doubles and one of the two Men's Singles' matches.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Defending champion Ajay Jayaram and Commonwealth bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix after notching up srRound.
Former India football captain Baichung Bhutia was given the Lifetime Achievement award, while hockey legend and three-time Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Sr was honoured with the Icon of the Century award.
The 28-year-old from Kerala had spent two weeks stressing over his physical and mental health after contracting COVID-19 last November.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Top shuttler B Sai Praneeth and doubles player Dhruv Rawat have already pulled out after testing positive in the pre-departure testing.
Satwik and Ashwini, who reached the semi-finals at Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 in January, will meet the winner of the match between fifth-seeded Malaysians Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing and Germany's Jones Ralfy Jansen and Kilasu Ostermeyer.
Defending champion PV Sindhu suffered a straight-game defeat to Tai Tzu Ying while Srikanth assured himself of a medal.
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
They would only be allowed in the academy after they produce COVID-19 negative certificate, the SAI said in a release.
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