Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal feels that year 2015 is one of the best of her career but rued that a series of injuries affected her chances of winning more titles.
The administrators are busy thrashing out resumption plans but with the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, India's sportsperson are pleading for caution as discussion rages on whether competitions can resume by August. Top stars from various disciplines want the waiting period to continue, while others pointed out at the loss it would cause in terms of fitness and readiness.
The Olympics in London next year is Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal's best chance for Olympic glory. But, for that to happen, Indonesian badminton legend Rudy Hartono says, she needs to improve her physical fitness considerably.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
Badminton teen sensation P V Sindhu improved one more place to close the gap with ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal in the latest world ranking released in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia's top badminton player Lee Chong Wei wrested the Malaysian Open title when he defeated world number one Chen Long at Shah Alam on Sunday. The world No. 4 won 21-13, 21-8 to clinch his record 11th title in Malaysia, which also comes as a much-needed boost in his pursuit of a still-elusive Olympic gold medal. The world number four shuttler was in fine form for the Malaysian competition after suffering early exits in the All England Championships and India Open in March. "Many critics have said that I should retire after some poor performances. But I know within myself that I am capable of still producing the goods at the highest level and this win was the proof of that," said the 33-year old Lee.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday admitted that it was tough for him to manage two of his illustrious wards Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu together, saying he could never pick a favourite between the two. Gopichand said he always saw the duo as his kids and felt bitter when Saina left his academy to join Prakash Padukone's academy.
World number one Lee Chong Wei continued his dominance over Peter Gade Christensen in the Super Series events to win the men's singles title in the inaugural Indian Open badminton championship in New Delhi on Sunday.
One of the strong medal hopefuls from badminton at the upcoming Olympics, PV Sindhu said she wants to break into the top 7 in world ranking before the Rio Games in August.
Media hype after winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal might have affected the Saina Nehwal's performance in last month's Asian Games in Guangzhou and led to her early exit, according to badminton legend Prakash Padukone.
A 'chance meeting' with Pullela Gopichand near an auditorium lift was enough for Manasi Joshi to convince the national coach of her burning desire to become a world champion.
World champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Chinese Taipei's No 1 shuttler Tai Tzu Ying will be up for grabs when the high-profile Players' Auction for the lucrative Premier Badminton League gets underway in Hyderabad on Monday.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Monday unveiled the team jersey and anthem of Kerala Blasters, the Indian Super League team co-owned by him, and promised to support local talent in the state.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is the first Indian woman to achieve the World No 1 ranking.
Chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, who guided Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu to Olympic medals in the successive Games, says he was lucky that he wasn't good in studies and it was a flunked IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) exam that paved his way to be a successful sportsperson.
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
All-England and World champion Carolina Marin beat Indian ace Saina Nehwal to win the 'Female Player of the Year' award in Dubai on Monday night. Besides, Saina, Marin, who won five World Superseries titles, held off competition from China's Zhao Yunlei and Bao Yixin.
While praising the depth in the Indian men's ranks and expecting it to last for the next 10 years, badminton legend Prakash Padukone lamented that the women's side did not possess the same depth in class after world no. 2 Saina Nehwal and no. 12 P V Sindhu.
The Indian challenge at the Australian Open Super Series badminton ended as Saina Nehwal was sent packing by China's Shixian Wang in the women's singles quarter-finals, in Sydney, on Friday. The world No 1 was beaten by the two-time All England champion and fifth seed 15-21, 13-21 in 41 minutes.
Two-time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei suffered his second successive loss in a crucial Trump match at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) as Delhi Acers notched up a thrilling 4-1 win over Hyderabad Hunters at the Siri Fort Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday.
He is known to be a demanding coach but Pullela Gopichand is of the opinion that Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu's odd defeats can't be termed as her failure, not even by a single per cent.
After losing seven successive finals, PV Sindhu finally redeemed herself with the gold medal at the World Tour Finals.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal celebrated her No 1 ranking by beating Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon to clinch the India Open $275,000 Yonex Sunrise Super series event at the Siri Fort sports complex in New Delhi on Sunday.
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.
India's ace shullter Saina Nehwal put up a strong fight but went down 13-21, 21-13, 6-21 to World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying in Denmark Open final on Sunday.
Tennis star Leander Paes and badminton player-turned-coach Pullela Gopichand were selected for the prestigious Padma Bhushan awards while cricketer Yuvraj Singh was among the seven sportspersons chosen for this year's Padma Shri award.
The Indian badminton ace says there should be some stabilization to help players making a comeback from injury.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
The Indian ace was beaten by fourth seeded Mohammed Hafix Hashim of Malaysia in the quarter-finals at the Danish Open.
Chetan Anand, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar advanced to the second round of the All England Open Badminton tournament.
World champion Zhu Lin will not be able to defend her title in India this August after being left out of the China squad for the badminton World Championships, local media reported on Tuesday. Olympic silver medallist and former world champion Xie Xingfang will lead China's team for the women's singles, which also includes All England champion Wang Yihan, China's highest ranked player Wang Lin and Lu Lan.
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.
Indian shuttler Chetan Anand continued his rampaging form and thumped England's Carl Baxter in straight games to clinch the Czech International badminton title on Sunday. The reigning National champion defeated Baxter 21-15, 21-14 in a lopsided final that lasted just 26 minutes.
His repeated requests for rehabilitation ignored, Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Parupalli Kashyap is flummoxed after being sent air tickets to join the Indian badminton squad at the South Asian Games despite being laid low by an abdominal strain.
Saina was awarded a cheque of Rs 25 lakhs for her title-winning performance at the Australia Super Series in 2016, besides becoming the first Indian to become the World No. 1 and reaching the finals at All England champion in 2015.
P V Sindhu hoped to regain peak fitness before the start of individual events and assured India will return with multiple medals.
The World No 25 pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag put a gallant fight in the second game but couldn't stop the two-time All England Champions from Indonesia, going down 12-21, 24-26 in a 42-minute match.
India's men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth alongwith two other doubles pairs advanced to the semi-finals of the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
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