After bringing home just two medals from the Rio Olympics, India needs to be realistic in its preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Games and should narrow its focus to a handful of sports, says former All England badminton champion Prakash Padukone. P.V. Sindhu's silver medal in the badminton women's singles and a bronze from wrestler Sakshi Malik at the Rio Games was considered a sorry return for a nation of 1.3 billion people. India have won a total of 28 medals since first competing at the Olympics in 1900 but a government think tank has come up with a strategy it hopes will help the country to 50 medals in 2024, including prioritising 10 sports.
India needs people like Rahul Dravid and Pullela Gopichand, who have done an excellent job in producing young talent in their respective disciplines, for tennis to develop in the country, says eight-time Grand Slam doubles champion Leander Paes.
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.
Set to become the first Indian to win all the national sports awards, former All-England badminton champion Pullela Gopichand on Tuesday said being honoured as both player and coach has put a responsibility on him to take the game forward in the country.
The former All-England badminton champion says he was in the dark about the formation of new Arjuna Awards panel.
Many believe the Thomas Cup victory can do for badminton what the 1983 World Cup triumph did for cricket in India.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy capped off their impressive campaign with a historic title at the Swiss Open.
Reader Saurabh Tandon spotted Prakash Padukone in Bangalore.
By securing a place in the semfinals, Haseena Sunil Kumar Prannoy became the first Indian in 41 years to book a badminton medal in the men's singles at the Asian Games.
The Chinese was given a tough time by unseeded Malaysian Lee Tsuen Seng before making the semi-final in the All-England badminton.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
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.
The 23-year-old remains India's 'silver girl', having lost finals at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and two world championships before Tuesday's Asian Games title showdown defeat to world number one Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan.
With a hat-trick of international titles and a career-best world ranking of number three, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has already achieved the targets that she had set for 2010, a jubilant national coach Pullela Gopichand said on Sunday.
World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn crashed out of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament
H S Prannoy signed off with a bronze -- India's first medal in men's singles at the Asian Games in 41 years,.
Badminton chiefs will consider a new format for the Thomas and Uber Cups after South Korea shamelessly threw two group matches.
Lakshya Sen went down fighting against reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China in the men's singles semi-finals.
Sindhu, Lakshya win openers; Sai Praneeth loses in US Open
Newly-crowned Canada Open champion Lakshya Sen will hope to continue his winning momentum while beginning his campaign at the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament.
For India to send two shuttlers in Tokyo Olympics women's singles, both of them will have to be inside top 16 in the world rankings which will be released after the end of qualification period, on April 30, 2020.
As Kidambi Srikanth lost his second round match, India's campaign ended at the Singapore Open.
Denmark's Tine Rasmussen reached the final of the women's singles at the All England Badminton Championships for the third year in succession after edging past gallant Indian seventh seed Saina Nehwal 21-19, 21-17.
Ten years ago, Prakash Padukone had predicted the rise of Lakshya Sen.
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.
Apparently, Deepika will now produce a bio-pic on the life of her father, the badminton champion, Prakash Padukone.
Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi have joined hands to launch the Olympic Gold Quest Sports Foundation.
In a nail-biting semi-final, fourth seed Sindhu went down fighting 21-19, 19-21, 18-21 to Yamaguchi after battling for an hour and 19 minutes on Saturday.
The 28-year-old from Hyderabad, a winner of the Indonesia Masters, semi-finalist at Malaysia Masters and quarter-finalist at the All England Championship, saw US$36,825 added to her career earnings.
Saina Nehwal and Sikki Reddy will clash in the girls' final of the Commonwealth Youth Games badminton tournament. In Thursday's semi-finals, Saina beat England's Panuga Riou 21-12, 21 10, while Sikki Reddy accounted for Malaysia's Tiffany Chase Currier, winning 21-16, 21-9.
The government rewarded badminton star Saina Nehwal with Rs 25 lakh for reaching the final of the prestigious All England Open Championship in March.
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu is set to lead India's charge at the upcoming Sudirman Cup.
Sen has a 4-2 head-to-head record against his final opponent Li Shi Feng, the reigning All-England champion. Sen had defeated him recently at the Thailand Open.
Fresh from their Korea Open triumph, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their dream run.
In the upcoming German Open, Lakshya Sen will spearhead India's challenge at the Super 300 tournament.
India badminton team have been accorded the top seed this time and are clubbed with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Scotland in Group A.
P V Sindhu sought the help of the legendary Prakash Padukone and trained at his academy in Bengaluru last week.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing on the concluding day of the Commonwealth Games.
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