Chinese paddlers reasserted continental supremacy on Friday by defending both the men's and women's team titles on the fourth day of the 19th Asian Table Tennis Championships while Indian men finished a distant seventh in the Champions Division.
Ravaged but resolute H S Prannoy focussed on increasing speed ahead of Paris Olympics
Prannoy is only seeded Indian player at No. 7 in the men's singles draw of 32 as he will begin his campaign against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, against whom the Indian has a 4-1 win-loss record.
Olympic medallist P V Sindhu is also missing in action as she recovers from an injury.
China and Hong Kong have had to withdraw from this week's Badminton Asia Team Championships in Manila due to the coronavirus outbreak. India will, however, send its men's team after they agreed to travel to Manila.
P V Sindhu secured her fifth World Championships medal following a stunning comeback while B Sai Praneeth became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to grab a podium place in badminton's prestigious event, in Basel, on Friday.
'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'
Jia Min was happy to execute her plan but acknowledged that her opponent was not at her best shape.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
A year ago, following the World Championships, Sen underwent nasal surgery to treat a deviated septum. What followed was an extended recovery process that took eight months.
China shrugged off badminton's biggest Olympic scandal to sweep all five titles at London four years ago but the Asian super-power is trying to keep a lid on expectations of another bumper gold medal haul at the Rio de Janeiro Games. The peerless team that set up the 'Great Haul of China' in London will line up almost unchanged at Rio, anchored by men's singles great Lin Dan and women's champion Li Xuerui. So strong were the Chinese in 2012 that they swept the titles without the reigning world champion women's doubles pairing of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, who were expelled from the tournament in disgrace.
Home favourites Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down in a tense final against world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Sang Jae at India Open, settling for their second successive runners-up finish, in New Delhi on Sunday.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu remained in the hunt for a historic Asian Games gold medal after a tense win but Saina Nehwal settled for a bronze following her 10th straight defeat against World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty staged a grand comeback after losing the opening game to beat top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in the final and win the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament, in Yeosu, on Sunday.
B Sai Praneeth became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to secure a medal in the BWF World Championships after a straight-game victory over Indonesia's Jonatan Christie.
Prakash Padukone backed Sindhu to win the World Championship crown soon after two consecutive silver medal performances in the prestigious event.
Malaysian shuttler Lee Chong Wei was a relieved man on Monday after being handed a backdated eight-month ban for doping by the Badminton World Federation, leaving him free to go for gold at the Rio Olympics next year.
Satwik has been working with sport & performance psychologist Shree Advani
On the last day of the competition, Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals each.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad lost her momentum after that incident, losing 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 to eventually sign off with a bronze medal, her second in the continental individual championship.
Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been in the form of his life for about a year now.
Two-time Olympic-medallist P V Sindhu made a winning return from a lengthy injury lay-off as India stunned formidable China 3-2 in the women's competition of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia on Wednesday.
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'.
The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.
Indian badminton team created history on Sunday as they lifted the Thomas Cup trophy for the very first time.
Top Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy were knocked out of the 18th Asian Games after suffering shock defeats in the second round of the men's singles competition, in Jakarta, on Friday.
The sixth seeded Indian from Uttarakhand, who had won a bronze medal in the last edition of the competition, notched up 21-19, 21-18 upset win over Vitidsarn in the summit clash that clocked 46 minutes.
Having slumped in the rankings, champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap tells Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com how he plans to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal's heroics went in vein as India went down to China 1-3 in the quarter-final to bow out of men's team event on the third day of the 19th Asian Table Tennis Championships in Lucknow on Wednesday.
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu hopes the Commonwealth Games will serve as a perfect launchpad in her quest to regain the World Championships crown next month.
Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday praised star pacer Mohammed Shami and para-archer Sheetal Devi after being honoured with the Arjuna Award in Delhi.
'Until April 2024, we have the qualification period so until that we might push for more tournaments but the plan is to pick and choose after you qualify and then gradually peaking before the Olympics.'
Paralympics gold medallist Pramod Bhagat attributed his calm on-court demeanour under pressure to the inspiration he took from the sportsmanship and graceful behaviour exhibited by the iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in his career.
Saina Nehwal has once again resumed her partnership with long-time mentor and former coach Pullela Gopichand and would be starting her training at his academy in Hyderabad after recovering from a thigh strain.
India's 572 athletes hope to return home with an overflowing treasure chest of medals.
Praggnanandhaa said just talking to the Indian chess wizard (Anand) boosts his confidence.
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.
This was the third title for the Indian duo -- they had clinched the Abu Dhabi Masters Super 100 and Nantes International Challenge this year.
This year's All-England Championships is likely to mark the final appearance of five-time champion Lin Dan at the sport's oldest event, as the garlanded Chinese player bids for a berth at the Rio Olympics before a possible retirement.
'Lot of things to learn from this, so definitely I will work on this and try and get better for next tournaments.'
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