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.
PV Sindhu stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the Olympic Games' women's singles competition
Confident about their preparation for the upcoming World Championships, India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said the home shuttlers have the best chance of winning multiple medals at the prestigious tournament next month.
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.
Lakshya Sen is aware that his Olympic qualification is still in choppy waters but said he has been working on his "variations" and "deceptions" during the off-season to regain his world's top-10 position and seal his Paris Games berth.
In a hard-fought title round, the Indian double Olympics medallist stayed strong in the key moments to win 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 against the 22-year-old reigning Asian Championships gold medallist.
Badminton and cricket are two of his favourite sports. He was here with us for about an hour, Vimal Kumar said.
Indian shuttlers continued their impressive show with top stars P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth progressing to the semifinals of their respective events in the 21st Commonwealth Games' badminton competition, in Gold Coast, on Friday.
For all her achievements, says Bikash Mohapatra, Saina is yet to win either the Worlds, Olympics or All England, badminton's flagship events.
Pusarla Sindhu romped into the final of the World Badminton Championships, trouncing China's Chen Yu Fei 21-7, 21-14 in semi-finals, in Basel, on Saturday.
Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
After a string of disappointing results, PV Sindhu parted ways with coach Park Tae Sang
'I think for the next generation to come up, we need to put a system in place which actually identifies and nurtures talent. We have grown exponentially but there is lot more which needs to be done' 'It's not only my academy, all academies across the country are running full. There are many, many parents who want their kids to give up everything and concentrate on badminton'
The World No 11 Srikanth will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round.
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been in the form of his life for about a year now.
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.
The BWF said that it was also looking at options to host its annual general meeting and members' forum which were due to take place in Aarhus in August.
London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal scripted history by reaching the finals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championship with a straight-game victory over Sun Yu of China in the women's singles competition in Birmingham.
Two-time defending champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Sunday. She was shocked by a lower-ranked Shixian Wang of China in the women's singles semi-final. The top seeded Indian ace fought hard before losing 11-21, 21-10, 9-21 to the fourth-seeded Chinese in a battle that lasted 50 minutes.
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.
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarter-finals with easy victories, but the highlight of the third day's proceedings in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament was H S Prannoy's thrilling victory over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal on Wednesday made a positive start to her campaign at the All England Championship by notching up a difficult three-game victory over Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand to reach the pre-quarter-finals.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton.
Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when the seventh India Super Series badminton tournament gets underway with the qualifiers in New Delhi on Tuesday.
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.
It is Sindhu's first final since winning the gold and the Commonwealth Games last year.
Taking the Indian challenge forward, P V Sindhu progressed to the women's singles quarter-finals after a tough win over Yu Po Pai in the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday. Sindhu overcame the challenge of the Taipei shuttler 21- 16 21-16 in the second round. However, B Sai Parineeth, who had eked out a memorable win over legendary Lee Chong Wei at the All England championship, made an exit from the event after losing 19-21 6-21 to second seed Tien Chen Chou from Taipei in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.
On March 11, the government issued a revised travel advisory, cancelling all visas till April 15 and making it clear that Indian nationals returning to the country from affected countries would be quarantined for 14 days. England is among the most-affected by coronavirus outbreak. P V Sindhu was given the choice of pulling out of All England Championships after the Indian government's travel restrictions came into force but the Olympic silver-medallist decided to play on
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad will begin her campaign against China's Li Xuerui, a former Olympic gold medallist and World No 1.
A dream All-England title may have slipped through her fingers, but Saina Nehwal insisted on taking the positives out of the prestigious badminton tournament, saying the consistency and overall improvement in her will help her to do well in the season ahead.
Indian shuttlers Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Siril Verma notched up contrasting victories to reach the semifinals of the women's and men's singles events at the Russian Open Grand Prix, in Vladivostok, on Friday.
Shuttlers in the singles competition have to be inside top-16 of world rankings to qualify for the Olympics. The cut-off for doubles is also top-16.
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The celebration of this historic feat was not yet over when Indian shuttlers scripted yet another jaw-dropping show in Birmingham, returning with six medals, including three golds, a silver and two bronze medals in August.
Fresh from their Korea Open triumph, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their dream run.
Indian shuttler Kiran George says his giant-killing act at the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament earlier this year gave him the self-belief, which proved to be the key en route his second BWF title at the Indonesia Masters.
This year PV Sindhu has reached the summit clash at India Open, the Commonwealth Games and the Thailand Open but failed to cross the final hurdle, prompting many critics to once again describe her as the 'perennial bridesmaid'.
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.
