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.
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.
'I'm least bothered about the rankings of Kashyap or Srikanth. I want to make it on my own by winning titles.'
Indian shuttlers had a mixed day in the opening round of the China Open with Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu easing into Round II, while Kidambi Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram making early exits.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram continued their good run and reached the quarterfinals of the season-opening Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Sarawak on Thursday.
Former World No 1 Saina Nehwal stayed on course for the women's singles title at the season-opening Malaysia Masters after she advanced to the semi-finals of the $US 120,000 Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal reached the quarterfinals without breaking much sweat but it was RMV Gurusaidutt who made heads turn, on Thursday, as he stunned World No. 9 Pengyu Du of China in a thrilling three-game match in the Hong Kong Super Series.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a straight-game win over Japan's Kazumasa Sakai but his compatriots Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt failed to cross the first hurdle in the French Super Series.
India made a resounding start to their campaign at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold with four Indian shuttlers advancing to the second round of the men's singles competition, in Basel, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The 30-year-old Indian shuttler had an impressive run in the $75,000 BWF Tour Super 100 tournament before caving in tamely 14-21, 10-21 to Shesar in 28 minutes.
In women's singles, both Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu climbed up the ladder despite not playing in any recent tournaments.
Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu reached the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy reached the second round but it was curtains for men's singles shuttlers at the Singapore Super Series, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Indian ace shuttler Ajay Jayaram's gallant fight ended in a defeat in the opening match as Indian men's team suffered a 1-3 loss against Thailand in their campaign-opener at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament, in Kunshun, on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
International badminton players posted a video where they played different strokes while Bella Ciao, the theme song for Money Heist, plays in the background.
In a dramatic turn of events, Indian shuttler P Kashyap edged past Ajay Jayaram to qualify for the London Olympics after Chen Jin of China gave him a walkover in the quarter-finals of the Indian Open Super Series because of a wrist injury, in New Delhi on Friday.
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.
India's campaign at the New Zealand badminton Open ended after Ajay Jayaram and Arvind Bhat lost in the quarter-finals of the men's singles, in Auckland, on Friday.
It turned out to be a disastrous day for Indian shuttlers at the Hong Kong Open as P V Sindhu, K Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram crashed out of the $ 350,000 Super Series event in the opening round, in Hong Kong, on Wednesday.
P V Sindhu, K Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Subhankar Dey, B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma scored easy first round singles victories, while the pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa shocked a fancied Malaysian pair to enter the second round of the women's doubles.
Defending champion Lakshya Sen pulled out of the SaarLorLux Open Super 100 tournament after his father-cum-coach D K Sen tested positive for COVID-19 in Saarbrucken.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki N Reddy also won their mixed doubles first round match, beating Denmark's Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 10-21, 21-16, 21-17.
Former National champion Bhat entered the second round after Scott Evans retired midway at 21-9, while Pawar defeated Eetu Heino of Finland 21-12, 21-16.
Indian challenge ended in the men's singles competition with Ajay Jayaram, P Kashyap and Sourabh Verma losing their second round matches at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
Ajay Jayaram led India to a 5-0 whitewash of hosts Macau in the Thomas Cup, but it was a losing start for the Indian women's team, which lost 2-3 to Malaysia, in the Uber Cup Asia Zone tournament on Tuesday.
Olympics-bound Parupalli Kashyap lost in the first round, as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed opening day at the Singapore Open, on Wednesday. Kashyap, who shocked top seed Chen Long of China in straight games to make the last eight of the Indonesia Super Series before losing in the semis, was beaten 12-21, 18-21 by second seed Hyun Il Lee of Korea in 37 minutes.
Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram advanced to the quarter-finals after registering thrilling three-game wins over their respective opponents in the second round of the China Super Series Premier, in Fuzhou, on Thursday.
Shuttler Parupalli Kashyap talks to T S Sudhir about his qualification for the London Olympics and his preparations for it.
India's top shuttler, Parupalli Kashyap climbed a notch to the 13th position in the men's singles table in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.
India's challenge at the Japan Super Series came to a grinding halt when shuttler Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after suffering a defeat in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event here on Friday.
Former Olympic and World champion Taufik Hidayat criticised the auction process of the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL) saying he felt that the foreign players were not treated in a fair manner as compared to their Indian counterparts.
Ajay Jayaram, who skipped the ongoing Korea Open, slipped a place to be at 17th.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal sailed into the semi-finals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier after a straight-games victory over Carolina Marin of Spain, in Jakarta, on Friday.
Rio Olympics quarterfinalist K Srikanth emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open after he reached the last eight stage of the men's singles competition at the Super Series event in Tokyo on Thursday. However, it wasn't the sort of victory that Srikanth would have ever wished for as his match against compatriot Ajay Jayaram was stopped midway after the 28-year-old Mumbai-based shuttler injured his left ankle.
India's campaign came to a halt at the Vietnam Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after Sameer Verma went down to second seed South Korean shuttler Lee Hyun-il in straight games in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Friday.
Shuttler R M V Gurusaidutt was the lone bright spot in an otherwise disappointing day for the Indians at the Australian Open Grand Prix Gold in Sydney.
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