Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal fought her way back from a game down to win her opening round match while compatriot P V Sindhu crushed her opponent to storm into the second round of the French Super Series in Paris, on Wednesday.
Sindhu said she is working on her technique to iron out the flaws.
Former World No 1 Saina Nehwal asserted her supremacy over Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu with a straight game victory to enter the semi-finals of the USD 350,000 Indonesia Masters, in Jakarta on Friday.
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.
In the men's draw, HS Prannoy, went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
India's P V Sindhu hopes no one will ever question her ability to win big titles, relieved at breaking the finals jinx with a historic triumph at the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
With the straight-game victory, Sindhu became the first Indian to achieve the feat.
It was heartbreak for P V Sindhu at the World Badminton Championships. The Indian shuttler had to settle for a second consecutive bronze medal after succumbing to Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-finals, in Copenhagen, on Saturday.
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu feels the experimental service law in badminton could have come at a better time.
P V Sindhu said she has a strategy in place to outwit the World No. 1 in Tuesday's singles final at the Asian Games final in Jakarta.
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.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Indian women made a stupendous start to their campaign at the Uber Cup badminton tournament by thrashing Australia 5-0, in Kunshan, on Monday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered another heart-wrenching defeat against World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to finish as runner-up at the Dubai Super Series Final in Dubai on Sunday.
It was a rare sight to witness badminton legends Prakash Padukone and Morten Frost get back on the court to relive their glory days with India's chess wizard Viswanathan Anand for company.
With Marin suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) -- the ligament that stabilizes the knee -- and world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying also recuperating from a wrist injury, Vimal feels Indian duo of Saina and P V Sindhu will have a great chance to end India's wait for an All England title.
Sourav Ganguly emphasised the need for playing day/night Tests to attract more spectators to stadiums.
India's campaign at the All England Badminton Championships came to a disappointing end with Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma all exiting from the tournament in Birmingham on Friday.
Ace shuttler PV Sindhu, on Wednesday, said her dream is to become World No 1 and she is trying to reach the numero uno spot.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the Round of 16 after pulling off contrasting wins in the opening round of the US$ 700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament.
In women's singles, both Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu climbed up the ladder despite not playing in any recent tournaments.
Sindhu leads India to 3-2 win over Hong Kong in Asia badminton Team Championship
Virat Kohli? M C Mary Kom? Neeraj Chopra?
India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, TT player Manika Batra and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu were on Tuesday picked for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry's selection committee.
'Revisit old footage, perhaps: Your favourite Messi goal, your most memorable Tendulkar century, your dearest Manchester United comeback.' 'Only then will we be able to grasp the lost meaning of why we watch sport, why we love it so much,' notes Dhruv Munjal.
Ace Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal on Thursday stormed into the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships after their straight-game victories over their respective opponents in the women's singles event in Birmingham.
The third highest paid endorser after Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, Sindhu is the highest paid among woman athletes and non-cricket sportspersons in the country, says Urvi Malvania.
Kidambi Srikanth, the centre of attention in the Rio Olympics on Wednesday, can take heart from Hyderabad city mate P V Sindhu for his men's singles quarter-final clash against Chinese badminton icon Lin Dan.
PV Sindhu finally fetched India its first ever World Championships gold in the sport but spent rest of the year struggling for form.
Sindhu says the path to the Tokyo Olympic gold will be a tough one as now her opponents will look to exploit her weaknesses and she will need to add something new to her game to achieve success.
Saina Nehwal says Tai Tzu-Ying's repertoire of shots and the ability to not restrict her game to a set pattern makes the World No 1 from Chinese Taipei a very difficult player to beat at the moment.
It will not be a Saina Nehwal versus P V Sindhu final in the women's singles but the men's singles will be an all-Indian affair with P Kashyap and K Srikanth set to clash for the title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow.
P V Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap cruised to the next round, but it was qualifier Shriyanshi Pardeshi of Air India who hogged the limelight after stunning former women's National champion Trupti Murgunde in straight games at the 78th ATS Senior National Badminton Championships in Delhi on Friday.
Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has undergone an elbow surgery
In an unprecedented move, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting award, will be conferred on four athletes this year. The Sports Ministry announced on Monday that Olympic medalists P V Sindhu and Sakshi Malik will be honoured alongside trail-blazing gymnast Dipa Karmakar and ace shooter Jitu Rai.
P V Sindhu became the country's first-ever woman silver medal winner in the Olympic Games after coming second best against world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in a pulsating clash for the gold in the badminton singles on Day 14 of competition.
'In this year, we had the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships and we have been successful (in those) and that was our target for this year. And I'm happy that at the end of the year they (players) are able to maintain their rankings'
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, was mobbed at the airport after she touched down, with national coach Pullela Gopichand by her side, late on Monday.
