World No. 1 Saina Nehwal started her campaign with a hard-fought win, while P V Sindhu eased past her opponent at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championship.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
Expectations from the Indian male shuttlers will also be high, given their exploits in recent months.
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched straight-game victories to progress to the quarter-finals, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the US $700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday.
Newly-crowned world No. 1 Saina Nehwal edged out China's Sun Yu to reach the women's singles semi-finals of the $8500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
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.
Boe will also help other doubles team under the TOPS -- mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa and women's doubles duo of Ashwini and Sikki Reddy.
Lakshya Sen has been in incredible form in the last six months.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
'By the time Parineeti comes to Saina, the audience would be suffering from an overdose.'
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for the Woman Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation after a consistent season which saw her occupy the world number one spot for a brief period.
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.
India's number one singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat Jay Clarke of Great Britain in straight sets to enter the main draw of the Miami Open, on Wednesday.
Badminton's new service rule won't be used at CWG
Saina Nehwal feels the year going by is one of the best of her career but rued that a series of injuries affected her chances of winning more titles.
Parupalli Kashyap came up with a brilliant performance to shock world No 7 Zhengming Wang of China in the US $250,000 India Super Series badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Wednesday.
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
Top Indian shuttlers, including world champion P V Sindhu, will be able to hit the courts from July 1 if the Telangana government allows the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to organise a national camp in Hyderabad. With COVID-19 cases surging in Hyderabad, the Telangana government, as a precautionary measure, extended the lockdown till June 30 but it meant the resumption of the sport got further delayed for the top players in the state.
With five titles under his belt, Lakshya Sen was racing towards the top echelons of international badminton before his stunning run was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, which brought all sporting action to a halt across the world. With the world in lockdown to contain the deadly disease, Lakshya too is enduring the uncertain times within the confines of his apartment, near the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru.
Pullela Gopichand, India's chief badminton coach, shares his views on the country's leading female players with Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com.
The Indian badminton team went down fighting against hosts South Korea (1-3) in the women's team badminton semi-finals to settle for their maiden bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon on Sunday.
It was double bonanza for India at the Canada Open as B Sai Praneeth and Rio-bound men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy clinched twin crowns after winning their respective title clash at the $ 55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament, in Calgary, Canada.
The Indian team, comprising Olympic hopefuls PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth, have been allotted training timings. The players also had their first gym session in the afternoon.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
It was another good year for PV Sindhu, who won the India Open Super Series and Korea Open Super Series titles, besides bagging the silver at Glasgow World Championship and finishing as runners-up at Hong Kong Open last month.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu lost in straight games to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the summit clash of the $ 350,000 Thailand Open World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament, in Bangkok, on Sunday.
It was double delight for India as crowd favourites Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth clinched their maiden women and men's singles titles at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament in New Delhi.
'Her defence was the one only problem. (Carolina) Marin and Pornpawee (Chochuwong) are good attacking players, they were using a lot of half smash and straight smash, and when Sindhu's defence goes down on a day, it affects her other skills as well, she gets nervous. But now she has improved a lot in her defence as well. Her endurance on the court is also good.'
Lakshya Sen recorded another comfortable win but double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth had to work hard to enter the semi-finals
After a highly successful 2012, Saina Nehwal will look to start the new year on a winning note when she takes the court at the season-opening Korea Super Series Premier badminton tournament at Seoul on Wednesday.
Having slumped in the rankings, champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap tells Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com how he plans to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal sealed a semi-final spot after a hard-fought victory but compatriot P V Sindhu crumbled under pressure to bow out of the women's singles competition at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier tournament, in Shah Alam, on Friday.
In other India-related news, Manish Kaurav (KL3 men 200m) and Manjeet Singh (VL2 men 200m) made it to the finals of their respective events for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
Rediff.com introduces you to the athletes who have brought India glory in Birmingham.
London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal regained second place while Parupalli Kashyap continued his upward progress, earning two places to reach seventh in the latest world badminton rankings, on Thursday.
Sindhu has fallen in the early stages at all tournaments except the French Open since winning her maiden World Championship title in August.
An important factor in India's stupendous success in 2021 was the way the government opened its coffers to support athletes.
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