Saina Nehwal struggled her way to the second round of the French Super Series badminton tournament after defeating German Juliane Schenk in a thrilling first-round match in Paris.
Top seed Saina Nehwal and the doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa scripted history by becoming the first Indian women shuttlers to win gold medals in the Commonwealth Games at the Siri Fort Complex in New Delhi on Thursday.
In 2002 Manchester, she was a novice taking her first steps in badminton but eight years down the line, Jwala Gutta is one of the best medal prospects for India at the Commonwealth Games and the 27-year-old says she will not let her country down.
Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu cruised past Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia in the opening round of the Fuzhou China Open on Tuesday.
In other India-related results, it was curtains for Ashmita Chaliha, who lost 17-21, 16-21 to Indonesia's world no. 7 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in 35 minutes. Both teams had received a bye in their opening match.
Sindhu is the only Indian to feature in the women's singles competition.
It's a big day for India today as medals will be few good ties away from the athletes at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
India will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the fifth day of the Asian Games.
Manjunath will play Taipei's Yu Jen, who was lucky to progress after fifth seed Rasmus Gemke retired in the second game after pocketing the first.
India's report card on the eigth day of the 2016 Olympics.
In the mixed doubles event, Satwiksairak Rankreddy and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign on a winning note. The duo beat the German combine of Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler in straight games 21-14, 31-19.
India's shuttlers continued their good run at the Canada Open. Six singles players, including Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy, qualified for the quarter-finals in the US $55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament, in Calgary.
Sindhu was made to toil hard by China's He Bing Jiao
'I don't think we have ever had so many top players either in singles or doubles,' says badminton legend Prakash Padukone.
Manu Bhaker marched into the final of women's 10m air pistol event at the Olympics after finishing third in qualifications on Saturday.
Following open criticism from top players like Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who declared the Indian Badminton League's decision to slash their auction base price as "disrespectful" and "absurd", the Badminton Association of India and the league's organisers have now barred players from talking to the media.
PV Sindhu turned 25 on Sunday as wishes poured in for her across the globe.
With the Sports Ministry set to include Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme.
Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy sailed into the pre-quarter-finals, but it was heartbreak for Parupalli Kashyap in the men's singles at the World Badminton Championships in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Sindhu pulls out of Uber Cup
Sindhu suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei
Indian contingent has an opportunity to go deep in the draw and recapture the trophy which has been won by just two Indians so far -- the legendary Prakash Padukone (1980) and P Gopichand (2001).
PV Sindhu dominated from start to finish and smashed her way into the second round of the prestigious All England Badminton Championships, in Birmingham, on Wednesday.
Following her bronze-medal finish at the recently-concluded World badminton Championships, India's top shuttler P V Sindhu has re-entered the top-10 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday.
Sindhu made short work of fifth seed Michelle Li of Canada 21-10, 21-19 in 36 minutes
Indian shuttler HS Prannoy grabbed his career-best world number 12 spot.
Rankireddy and Shetty, who created history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian men's doubles pair to win a BWF Super 500 tournament, are placed ninth in the men's doubles rankings issued on Tuesday.
Earlier, a series of unforced errors and bad line judgements put Srikanth, world ranked 24, on the back foot as world No. 20 Ka Long looked in fine fettle during the 38-minute men's singles match.
Saina Nehwal remained static at second position while Kidambi Srikanth dropped a place to be at ninth spot in the world badminton rankings released on Thursday.
Parupalli Kashyap etched his name firmly in the history books by becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 32 years to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.
Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu sailed into the women's singles quarter-finals with straight-game wins but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the BWF Badminton World Championships, in Nanjing, China on Thursday.
Saina dropped two spots to third in the women's singles list, and is placed below Spaniard Carolina Marin (80752), who rose a rung following her Australian Open title triumph.
London Games bronze medallist Saina, who had retired midway through her first match at Uber Cup Final due to a groin injury, couldn't match Japan's world no 20 Aya Ohori and lost 21-16, 21-14 in the opening round.
Sathish Kumar wins men's singles title, Tanisha-Dhruv claim mixed doubles crown at Odisha Masters
Olympic bronze medal winning shuttler Saina Nehwal has been handed a relatively easy draw in the women's singles section at the upcoming World Badminton Championships, scheduled to be held in Guangzhou from August 5 to 11.
In the men's doubles however, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to 11th seeded Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 11-21, 16-21 in a second round match that lasted 41 minutes.
P V Sindhu, K Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Subhankar Dey, B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma scored easy first round singles victories, while the pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa shocked a fancied Malaysian pair to enter the second round of the women's doubles.
'It was tough financially for the first few years but my friends and family supported me and once he did well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, there was no looking back.'
Indian shuttlers had a bad day in office as Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy failed to cross the opening hurdle at the prestigious All England Championship in Birmingham on Wednesday.
