Kidambi Srikanth and two-time bronze medallist P V Sindhu will headline a 21-member Indian contingent as they gun for the elusive gold medal at the World Badminton Championships starting in Glasgow on Monday.
On Saturday, Sen had become only the fifth Indian after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980, 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) to reach the final of the prestigious tournament after outwitting defending champion Lee Zii Jia in a gruelling semi-final.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign on a positive note, advancing to the second round of the women's singles competition but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth in the men's singles category of the All England championship in London.
World champion P V Sindhu remains India's best Olympic medal prospect but she has to give more attention to her recovery process between matches to achieve the feat at the Tokyo Olympic Games, said former India badminton coach Vimal Kumar.
With her silver from Rio, PV Sindhu is already India's most successful female Olympian but her World Championship triumph also boosted the nation's hopes of a medal in Tokyo next year.
The 2021 All England Open will be the second tournament this year to offer ranking points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, after the Swiss Open.
Misfiring Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Barcelona Open on Friday at the hands of fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro who avenged last year's final defeat by winning their quarter-final 2-6, 7-6 (7-5,) 6-4.
The Badminton World Federation's proposal to reduce on-court coaching and tweak the scoring system has left international coaches a confused lot with the likes of Pullela Gopichand and Kenneth Jonassen questioning the very logic of such a move.
The Indian ace was beaten by fourth seeded Mohammed Hafix Hashim of Malaysia in the quarter-finals at the Danish Open.
He was clearly disappointed to miss out the Indian Open title, but star Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on Sunday said "losing is better than winning always" and hoped the defeat in the final will spur him and his doubles partner Chirag Shetty to win a bigger crown in coming days.
PV Sindhu stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the Olympic Games' women's singles competition
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu marched into the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel.
Lakshya had struggled through much of 2023 and early part of 2024. He fell behind in the qualification race but turned things around in time with two semi-final finishes at the All England Championship and the French Open to seal his place in the Olympics.
The Indian duo needed just 35 minutes to beat Lu Ming-Che and Tang Kai-Wei of Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals of the Super 500 tournament.
Sindhu expectedly faced no resistance from Uganda's Husina Kobugabe, winning 21-10, 21-9 in her pre-quarterfinal match.
The Indian badminton ace is working to a schedule in preparation for the international season ahead.
It's going to be a hell of journey, says Sindhu welcoming new coach Hafiz Hashim
Ajay Jayaram got off to a rousing start in the men's singles at the World Badminton Championships, shocking higher-ranked Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong, in Guangzhou, China, on Monday. The 25-year-old Indian, ranked No 24, beat the world No 12 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 in 64 minutes, at the Tianhe Indoor stadium.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are aiming to win their maiden title at the All England championships, secure a Paris Olympics berth, and possibly emerge No 1 in the world.
Home Minister P Chidambaram stood in queue, purchased a ticket from the counter and watched the finals of the World Badminton championship from the spectators gallery on Sunday to send a symbolic message after England pulled out citing security reasons following alleged terror threat to the event.
Danish third seed Peter Gade started with an easy win but Chinese 11th seed Bao Chunlai was upstaged in the first round of the world badminton championships which began under tight security on Monday.
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.
Indian teen sensation P V Sindhu made sure of a second consecutive bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal after she was beaten in straight games in the women's singles quarter-finals at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen on Friday.
Many believe the Thomas Cup victory can do for badminton what the 1983 World Cup triumph did for cricket in India.
But Pullela Gopichand, Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhat and Abhinn Shyam Gupta were shown.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy capped off their impressive campaign with a historic title at the Swiss Open.
Badminton and cricket are two of his favourite sports. He was here with us for about an hour, Vimal Kumar said.
Three Indian shuttlers tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the All England Championship while a few are awaiting confirmation on their inconclusive samples as India's campaign has been thrown into chaos before the start of the tournament, starting in Birmingham on Wednesday.
World Badminton Championships silver medallist Saina Nehwal feels her decision to shift base to Bangalore and train under Vimal Kumar turned out to be a masterstroke.
India's Saina Nehwal breezed into the women's singles World Badminton Championships final after beating local girl Lindaweni Fanetri in Jakarta, on Saturday.
The 16-year-old Indian ace beat Sachiyo Imai of Japan to make the grade at the Philippines Open badminton championships.
But Chatan Anand crashed out in the first round at the All England badminton championships.
Set to return after an injury-induced break, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is aware the road to Paris will be "challenging" and she needs to be "smarter" in her pursuit of coveted gold medal in the French capital.
The Indian challenge ended at the Asia Badminton Championship after Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy went down fighting in the singles semi-finals, in Wuhan, on Saturday.
The former All England badminton champion thrashed compatriot J B S Vidyadhar Rao in the men's singles final.
Both romped into the second round in the US $10,000 Asian Satellite badminton championship.
Olympic champion Lin Dan on Sunday became the first badminton player to clinch a hat-trick of world titles, beating fellow Chinese Chen Jin in straight games in the finals of the mega-event at the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad.
Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty claimed India's first ever medal in men's doubles after settling for a silver at the 21st Commonwealth Games' badminton competition, in Gold Coast, on Sunday.
Nikhil Kanetkar, Sachin Ratti and Chetan Anand entered the second round in the Asian Satellite Badminton championships.
The Indian champions expressed satisfaction with her showing in the World championships, where she reached the last 16.
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