Indian shuttlers had a disappointing day at the Asian Badminton Championships in Johar Baru, Malaysia, on Thursday, most of them bowing out of the competition in various categories.
Anup Sridhar, India's top singles player, attained a career best ranking of 25, according to the latest Badminton World Federation's (BWF) ranking list.
The Indian ace was beaten by Lin Dan of China in the semi-finals of the Yonex Open badminton tournament.
The Indian ace needed a little more than 30 minutes to tame Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal 21-16, 21-14 and set up a second round clash with world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan, who is regarded as one of the most nimble-footed shuttlers around, in the men's badminton tournament at Beijing.
The Bangalore lad shocked world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan in a quarter-final match at the Yonex-Sunrise Asian Badminton Championship.
India's campaign in the Aviva Singapore Super Series came to an end on Friday after both Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar lost their respective quarter-finals. Tournament sixth-seed Saina went down 21-19, 19-21, 14-21 to China's Wang Lin in the women's singles while qualifier Sridhar's dream run was cut short by Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana. The Indian lost 11-21, 8-21.
Shuttler Anup Sridhar's Olympic campaign did not proceed beyond the first round as Shoji Sato of Japan sent the Indian packing in straight sets at the Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) Gymnasium on Monday evening.
The Indian challenge at the Swiss Super Series badminton tournament ended with Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal going down to their more fancied rivals.
Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal cruised into the singles second round but Shruti Kurian and Jwala Ghutta bowed out of women's doubles at the World Badminton Championships.
PV Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games.
India's national champion beat seventh seeded Scott Evans of Ireland in the final of the Yonex Hungarian International Open.
The Indian ace beat ninth seeded Sung Hwan Park of Korea to enter the semi-finals of the German Open.
Indian shuttlers had a mixed start in the Singapore Open Super Series, with Olympian Anup Sridhar advancing to the main draw after winning both his qualifying matches, and compatriot Anand Pawar bowing out in Singapore on Tuesday. Sridhar bounced back from a game down in his second round match to beat China's Yanbo Qiu 15-21, 21-19, 21-17 after a gruelling 52-minute battle.
Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal were knocked out in the first round of the All England Badminton Championships.
The 25-year-old World Championships quarter-finalist says the money his employers Bharat Petroleum and Bangalore-based SKL Software gives him is not enough to train and play abroad.
Anup Sridhar went down 24-22, 14-21, 13-21 to Korean Lee Hyun in the second round of the Malaysia Super Series.
The Tata Open badminton championship received a setback after Beijing-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal deciding to skip the event to be held in Mumbai from Sunday. With the Olympics just two weeks away, Anup, who strained his ankle last week during a practice session, opted out of the tournament as a precautionary measure before the Beijing Games.
Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand notched up wins to advance to the second round of the Malaysian Open
In the second men's semi-final in the National Badminton Championships, fourth seed Arvind Bhatt takes on fifth seed Anand Pawar.
Anup Sridhar beat Bangladesh's Mostafa Jabed Mohammad 21-3, 21-9 in the men's singles.
Legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone feels Anup Sridhar is one of India's best bets to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics. The Bangalore lad will be the country's lone men's singles challenger at the prestigious quadrennial event in Beijing.
Also making the last 16 was the Sanave Thomas-Rupesh Kumar combination in the men's doubles, and woman shuttler Trupti Murugunde.
"It's the biggest win in my career so far and I'm happy it came in a big event like the world championships," said Sridhar.
Anup Sridhar lost to 10th seed Wei Ng of Hong Kong in the men's singles quarter-finals at the Thailand Open Badminton Championships.
His stupendous run in the Asian Badminton Championship came to an end on Saturday as he went down to Olympic Champion Taufiq Hidayat of Indonesia in the semifinals.
The Indian ace beat Muhd Hafiz B Hashim of Malaysia and stormed into the men's singles quarter-finals at the World Badminton Championships.
Anup Sridhar beat Kenn Lim of Malaysia to enter the pre-quarter-finals of the men's singles at the Thailand Open Badminton Championships.
Top Indian shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand crashed out of the Asian badminton championships, as Indian shuttlers had a disastrous start, none of their men and women surviving in the singles competition on the first day itself.
Olympian Anup Sridhar pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, beating world No 2 Peter Gade of Denmark to enter the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament. Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal also reached the quarter-finals after staving off a scare from Indonesian Adrianti Firdasari in Singapore City.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and Olympian Anup Sridhar advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series even as three other Indians were shown the door on Wednesday.
Just days before embarking on their Olympic sojourn, Beijing-bound shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar got a fillip when they were handed a favourable draw in the women's and men's singles badminton competition of the quadrennial event starting August 8. Although Saina's path to the pre-quarterfinals is relatively smooth, the same is not in the case of her male counterpart Sridhar.
Anup Sridhar and Anand Pawar were among four Indians advancing to the pre-quarter-finals of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Auckland on Tuesday.
Beijing Olympics-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal's participation in the first Tata Open badminton tournament, to be held in Mumbai, from July 27-31 is in doubt. While the former is nursing an injury, the latter is still to confirm her entry.
The defending champion needed only 38 minutes to pack off the Indian in the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships.
Anup Sridhar and Aditya Prakash advanced to the pre-quarter-finals but four other Indians crashed out of the Australian Open Grand Prix men's singles in Melbourne on Wednesday.
B R Meenakshi and Shruti Kurien will contest the women's final in the NSCI badminton championships.\n\n
The Mission Olympic Cell is also considering higher incentives for retired Olympians and world-class players who want to take up coaching, in an effort to retain top talent within India.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu overcame a sluggish start to defeat world number seven Han Yue of China in a thrilling contest, progressing to the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Thursday.
Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a 13-21, 14-21, loss to Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama, while Aakarshi Kashyap went down 18-21, 10-21 to German Yvonne Li.
PV Sindhu says if she remains injury-free and in peak physical condition, she will aim for a third medal.
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