India ace Kidambi Srikanth was rewarded for his sensational run this season as he grabbed a career-best ranking of World No. 2 after jumping two places in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday.
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 London Olympic bronze medallist will face either Denmark's Line Christophersen or compatriot Ira Sharma for a place in the finals at the Super 100 event, which is a part of BWF's revised Olympic qualification events.
PV Sindhu cruised into the second round but compatriot Saina Nehwal bowed out fighting in the Badminton Asia Championships.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the fifth day of the Asian Games.
Sindhu had resumed training last month under the supervision of Korean coach Park Tae-Sang after the Sports Authority of India
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.
Saina Nehwal, who won the tournament last year before going through a lean patch, lost 19-21, 13-21, 5-21 to Sayaka Takahashi in 50 minutes.
Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu, who made early exits at the China Open and Korea Open, dropped to the 6th spot after five months and the former World No 2 shuttler will look to make amends at the Denmark Open and French Open.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
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.
The 28-year-old from Kerala had spent two weeks stressing over his physical and mental health after contracting COVID-19 last November.
A much-anticipated second round meeting of India's top two women shuttlers, world No 1 Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, failed to materiliaze as the latter came a cropper in her opening match at the Japan Open Super Series badminton tournament, in Tokyo, on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Olympic bronze medallist and World No 9 went down 16-21, 23-21, 4-21 to her 19-year-old opponent in the women's singles match.
Top shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, are likely to leave for Malaysia and Singapore via Doha to participate in the last two Olympic qualifiers next month due to travel bans imposed by the two countries in the wake of unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases in India.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal sailed into the second round of the Singapore Open with straight-game wins over their respective rivals in the women's singles event on Wednesday.
Star India shuttler PV Sindhu was stunned by North Eastern Warriors' Michelle Li in straight games as former champions Hyderabad Hunters' made a disappointing start to its home leg of the Premier Badminton League in Hyderabad on Wednesday. World champion Sindhu suffered an 8-15, 9-15 defeat against World No 10 Canadian Li in a lop-sided women's singles contest.
Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women's singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes
Saina lost 15-21, 21-23 in the women's singles match that lasted 37 minutes to crash out
Rising player Lakshya Sen went down to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and National champion Sameer Verma began the new season on a resounding note by winning the women's and men's singles crowns respectively at the USD 120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Sunday.
Sindhu leads India to 3-2 win over Hong Kong in Asia badminton Team Championship
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.
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad will begin her campaign against China's Li Xuerui, a former Olympic gold medallist and World No 1.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
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.
P V Sindhu will be eager to return to the podium as former winner Saina Nehwal looks to regain her touch
Srikanth was to play against Momota in the first round on Wednesday but the Japanese world number one pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday
India's campaign at the Singapore Open Super Series ended on Thursday after P V Sindhu in the women's singles as well as the men's and mixed doubles pairs lost their respective second round matches to crash out of the tournament.
Srikanth needed 35 minutes to get the better of local hope Vittinghus 21-16, 21-10 in the opening round of the US$7,75,000 tournament.
If Saina manages to go past Okuhara, the Indian might run into fourth seed Carolina Marin, who is placed in her half of the draw.
Star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was disappointed after being called for a series of what he termed "ridiculous" service faults during his pre-quarterfinal match against China's Huang Yuxiang at the All England Championship.
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.
Indian shuttlers continued their impressive show with top stars P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth progressing to the semifinals of their respective events in the 21st Commonwealth Games' badminton competition, in Gold Coast, on Friday.
Check out India's schedule on Day 9 of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Friday.
On the eighth day of CWG 2018, the 22-year-old from Hyderabad made everything look so easy as she clinched a comfortable 21-15, 21-9 win over Wendy Chen in a one-sided last-16 clash of the women's singles event that lasted 34 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena.
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.
H S Prannoy outwitted World No 2 and title favourite Kidambi Srikanth in a thrilling final to win the men's singles title at the 82nd Senior National Championship, in Nagpur on Wednesday.
Defending champion Ajay Jayaram continued his dominant run at the Dutch Open, reaching the semi-finals of the men's singles competition of the $55,000 Grand Prix tournament in Almere, Netherlands.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
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