Denmark's Tine Rasmussen reached the final of the women's singles at the All England Badminton Championships for the third year in succession after edging past gallant Indian seventh seed Saina Nehwal 21-19, 21-17.
A rematch of the All England final between India's Saina Nehwal and world champion Carolina Marin is on the cards with the two stars given first and second seeding in the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries to be played from March 24.
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal, who recently won the Indonesian Open, on what it takes to be a champion.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap stunned world No. 4 Kenichi Tago of Japan by posting a straight-game victory in the first round of the men's singles event while Saina Nehwal registered an easy victory at the French Open Super Series in Paris.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal came from behind to notch a hard-fought victory over Juan Gu of Singapore in a first round match at the Malaysian Open Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. The fourth seed won 19-21, 21-14, 21-15, in 56 minutes.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was beaten in straight games by world number one Yihan Wang in the women's singles semifinals at the London Olympics on Friday but remained in the medal hunt as she will be competing in the bronze medal play-off.
The teen ace is seeded second in the July 3-9 tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
The Indian ace fought back after losing the first game to beat Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand 18-21, 21-12, 21-18 at the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
The core of the team remains the same with HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in good form and the Indian team would hope the rub of the green also goes their way when it begins campaign on Thursday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal shepherded the Hyderabad Hotshots to a comfortable 3-2 victory over Mumbai Masters in the inaugural Indian Badminton League at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi, Pune.
Pullela Gopichand, India's chief badminton coach, shares his views on the country's leading female players with Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com.
Two-time champion Saina Nehwal staged a grand recovery to beat fourth seeded Xuerui Li of China in the final to win the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton tournament in Jakarta on Sunday. The World No. 5 Indian shuttler, who won the title back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, prevailed 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 in 70 minutes to claim her second title in two weeks, having won the Thailand Open Grand Prix last week.
Saina Nehwal and Sikki Reddy will clash in the girls' final of the Commonwealth Youth Games badminton tournament. In Thursday's semi-finals, Saina beat England's Panuga Riou 21-12, 21 10, while Sikki Reddy accounted for Malaysia's Tiffany Chase Currier, winning 21-16, 21-9.
Moments after pulling off the biggest title victory of her career, Saina Nehwal said the triumph at the Indonesian Super Series was a 'dream come true' but never expected it to come at such an early age. World No 8 Saina beat No 3 Chinese Lin Wang 12-21, 21-18, 21-9 in a 49-minute hard-fought summit showdown in Jakarta.
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.
Parupalli Kashyap regained his place inside the top 10 in the latest BWF's world ranking, release on Thurday.
Her team Hyderabad Hotshots may have easily downed the high flying Pune Pistons 4-1 but Saina Nehwal, who won a crucial point for her side after a grim struggle against world number three Juliane Schenk, said she is unhappy with some of the rulings of the umpire.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal fears that mass pull out by top athletes from the Commonwealth Games will rob spectators of a chance to witness some great contests.
Srikanth, now ranked five, was placed seventh before the Malaysia Open, where he lost his last-four clash to the reigning Asian champion Kento Momota.
Gopichand, who shaped Sindhu and Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal among others, believes it will take some time for the next big star to emerge.
Two-time All England champion Tine Baun is confident that she and Indian ace Saina Nehwal are good enough to topple the formidable Chinese players at the London Olympics and win medals.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a comfortable straight-game victory over Hong Kong's Pui Yin Yip to start her India Open Super Series campaign on a positive note, in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
Sindhu is the only Indian to feature in the women's singles competition.
Saina Nehwal's quarter-final jinx at the World Badminton Championships continued, as the ace Indian shuttler suffered a straight-games defeat to world No 3 Wang Xin and bowed out of the women's singles at Wembley Arena, London, on Friday. Jwala Gutta and Ashiwni Ponnappa, however, scripted history, becoming India's first-ever women's doubles pair to make it to the semi-finals of a World Championships.
Parupalli Kashyap surprised world No. 5 Son Wan Ho in straight games to enter the men's singles quarter-finals at the Indonesian Open Super Series, but Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after losing to a lower-ranked opponent, in Jakarta, on Thursday.
India's Saina Nehwal moved to the second round of the women's singles in the Yonex Korea Super Series 2009 after Charmaine Reid of Canada gave her a walkover in the opener in Seoul on Tuesday.
National coach Pullela Gopichand, on Saturday, said that the loss of form of ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, whose campaign in the Japan Open Super Series ended in semi-finals, was not a cause of concern.
India's top woman shuttler was given a scare by 15-year-old Sikki Reddy before posting a 23-21, 22-20 victory on the fifth and penultimate day of the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Saina Nehwal, who was forced to skip the National Badminton Championships because of a shoulder injury, is hoping to be back on court at the All England Super Series, from March 3 to 8.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is in no hurry to become the World number one and said winning the prestigious Hong Kong Super Series title in Wanchai was as good as achieving the numero uno status as she had beaten some top players en route to her victory.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the World Badminton Championships with a straight-set demolition of Chloe Magee of Ireland to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles in London.
Going through a purple patch, Saina Nehwal has nothing to complaint about her form and all the ace shuttler now wants is to steer clear of injuries so that she can give her best in the Commonwealth and Asian Games later this year.
India's badminton queen Saina Nehwal has signed a 40-crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management company, making her the country's highest paid sportsperson outside cricket.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal created history on Saturday by becoming the first Indian singles player to reach the summit clash of the BWF Super Series Finals after defeating Tine Baun of Denmark during the semi-finals in Liuzhou in China.
The Indian ace lost to World No 5 Hongyan Pi of France 12-21, 21-18, 21-16 in the second round of the women's singles of the Super Series on Thursday.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
Saina Nehwal of India has won the Olympic bronze medal after Wang Xin of China retired with a left knee injury in the second game of their playoff on Saturday.
Indian shuttler HS Prannoy grabbed his career-best world number 12 spot.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu marched into the women's quarter-finals but all the top four seeds, including defending champion P Kashyap, crashed out of the men's event in the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix in Lucknow.
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu and national champion K Srikanth continued their rampaging run with contrasting victories to reach the semi-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament in Lucknow.
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