I want a room full of medals before retiring, says Chirag Shetty
'Badminton at this level is a mental game.' 'Often just one or two points makes the deficit and often it's upstairs on the first floor that these things happen.'
India's star shuttler H S Prannoy doesn't want to think about Paris right now and is instead focussing on "short-term targets" like breaking into the world's top three.
Against the unseeded Tunjung, Sindhu started on a bright note and played aggressively to surge to a 10-5 lead. She used her experience and reach to engage her opponents in long rallies initially.
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
Kapil said the mentality of Indian parents towards sports has changed drastically over the years, but more needs to be done.
HS Prannoy had almost given up on winning his next title and breaking a six-year long drought before chief national coach Pullela Gopichand instilled in him the belief.
HS Prannoy secured his maiden BWF World Tour title
Priyanshu Rajawat capped off an impressive week with a thrilling win in the final
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy bagged the biggest title of their career, winning the French Open Super 750 crown with a straight-game decimation of Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han in the men's doubles final in Paris on Sunday.
The Indian men's team will face Chinese Taipei in group C of Thomas Cup Final later in the day.
South Korea ended their 12-year wait for an Uber Cup title with a 3-2 upset of defending champions China that was only decided in the last singles match of the final in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday.
The FIR, filed on Thursday by M Goviappa Nagaraja, alleged that the 21-year-old reigning Commonwealth Games champion, along with his brother Chirag Sen, had fudged their age to get into playing age-group tournaments since 2010.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
Interestingly, this was Prannoy's first-ever win against Sen in three head-to-had meetings so far.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will spearhead the women's challenge in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games while London Olympics bronze winner Saina Nehwal did not expectedly feature in the squads.
Doubles specialist Markis Kido won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics partnering Hendra Setiawan, a year after the pair won the men's doubles title at the world championship in Kuala Lumpur.
It is the second semifinal appearance for world number 23 Prannoy at the Indonesia event.
The prestigious event was originally scheduled to be held from May 16-24 but was postponed to August 15-23 before finally rescheduling it in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been in the form of his life for about a year now.
'When we are playing at our best, it's very difficult to beat us.'
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
It is "irritating" to be unlucky all the time; perhaps they need some "divine intervention" to win crucial matches, said a frustrated Satwiksairaj Rankireddy after he and Chirag Shetty were beaten in the men's doubles semi-finals at the World Championships, in Tokyo, on Friday.
This was Sameer's fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.
Sen won his second round contest 21-17, 21-10, taking 72 minutes to complete the formality.
Natekar, who was considered one of most popular sportspersons of his time, was also a former World number three.
London Games bronze medallist Saina, who had retired midway through her first match at Uber Cup Final due to a groin injury, couldn't match Japan's world no 20 Aya Ohori and lost 21-16, 21-14 in the opening round.
A fighting H S Prannoy edged out Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama to progress to the semi-finals but two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu couldn't find a way to get past her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Already through to the quarter-finals, defending champions India continued their rampaging run as they beat Australia 4-1 in their final group A match of mixed team competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Sankar's father Subramanian encouraged him to drop out of the schooling system at an early age and pushed him to play in the upper age groups and senior circuits.
Two-time Olympics medallist P V Sindhu opted out citing post-Olympics recovery.
Lakshya Sen has been in incredible form in the last six months.
BAI cancels preparatory camp.
Saina Nehwal was forced to retire midway through her opening match but India's young brigade produced a clinical display to notch up a fine 3-2 win over Spain and get off to a winning start in the Uber Cup in Aarhus, on Sunday.
After Indonesia and South Korea on Friday joined Thailand, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Algeria in pulling out due to the dreaded disease
Indian men's team edged past Japan to settle for the third place in Thomas Cup qualifiers, while the women shuttlers remained in the hunt for a place in the Uber Cup main draw despite losing the qualifying semi-finals in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on Saturday.
Sindhu has agreed to compete in next month's Thomas and Uber Cup after deciding to pull out of the event earlier due to personal reasons
China's two-time Olympic badminton champion Lin Dan, one of the sport's greatest singles players, announced his retirement on Saturday. The 37-year-old, who won the Olympics singles titles in Beijing in 2008 and the 2012 London Games, has won all the sport's major titles, including five world championships' gold medals.
The Badminton World Federation has postponed the Thomas and Uber Cup, the premier global men's and women's team championship, to be held in Denmark for three months from the earlier scheduled date in May in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances