'When I played against Sindhu didi in China, I am happy I managed to play better than I did last time.'
Lakshya's Paris hopes brighten, enters No.15 in Olympic Games qualification
No Indians featured in the women's doubles and mixed doubles rankings.
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya presented the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award to badminton stars Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next play seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, who knocked out two-time defending champion Spain's Carolina Marin 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 in the other quarter-final.
Bhagat now has 11 medals, including six gold, two silver and three bronze medals in the world championships. He has the distinction of reaching the finals in all the editions, barring the 2007 and 2017 World Championships.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his impressive run to enter the men's singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over top seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei at the Canada Open.
Leading the congratulatory messages from the film industry for the ace shuttler were Aamir Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
A medal prospect at the upcoming Paris Olympics, the men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty say they are well equipped to handle the pressure of expectations.
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.
The world number nine will play Hong Kong's fifth seed Angus Ng Ka Long in the last eight stage.
Srikanth's Malaysia run shows he belongs at the top
The script remained the same in the second game as well, with Sindhu maintaining her firm grip over the proceedings to race to a 6-0 lead in just two minutes.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
India's badminton great Prakash Padukone will receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award this year from the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The CM expressed hope that budding athletes and sportspersons in the state can take inspiration from his achievement and adopt the same attitude of hard work and dedication shown by the Indian shuttler.
Coaching is the toughest job: Saina Nehwal on her future
The BWF also shared its Standard Operation Procedure with member associations, saying any breach "can result in accreditation being revoked and participants not permitted to enter the venue."
Bornil Aakash Changmai became only the second Indian shuttler to win a gold medal in the Under-15 boys' singles category.
Four Chinese players were given three-month bans for "failing to use best efforts to win" a match at the China Open in 2018.
The apex body also advised "teams and participants entering tournaments during the European and Asian legs" to "not return to their home countries as many would then have to undergo a 14-day quarantine period upon their return."
India's top men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty withdrew from the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals due to illness.
BWF said that Finland will host the Sudirman Cup Finals in September-October while the season-ending World Tour Finals will be staged in Indonesia.
In the men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty maintained their world number two ranking, although they lost in the quarter-finals of the World Championships going down to Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu defeated rising shuttler Anmol Kharb 21-17, 21-15, while Lakshya, 2021 world championships bronze medallist, powered past Malaysian qualifier Sholeh Aidil 21-12, 21-12 in another match.
Double Olympic medallist, Sindhu faces top seed and World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals. Ying beat Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour 21-10, 19-21, 21-11 to advance.
While India have never won the gold at the Asia Mixed Team Championships, they did secure mixed team gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who hasn't played any tournament since the Birmingham Games due to an ankle injury, is now world number five after moving up a spot.
Lakshya Sen, who won both his matches to play his part in the silver medal-winning effort in men's team event, too dropped one spot to world number 15. Kidambi Srikanth gained a spot to 20th.
Nehwal ended her journey in the tournament while Mia will proceed to the quarterfinals.
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.
PV Sindhu on Sunday said she is "definitely" going to play for the next couple of years even as the 2028 Los Angeles Games remains at the back of her mind.
Earlier, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had said in an update that Satwik had suffered a groin injury.
Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Rising shuttlers Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda's impressive run at the US $240,000 BWF Taipei Open Super 300 ended in the men's and women's singles semi-finals respectively, bringing the curtain down on India's campaign in Taipei on Saturday.
All eyes will be on Indian ace Saina Nehwal when she returns to the court after an injury lay-off at the All England Championship, hoping to better last year's runner-up finish at the prestigious event which begins with the qualifiers in Birmingham.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth have sealed their spots at the prestigious BWF World Superseries Finals for the second successive time.
This is the first time that Sindhu has lost to a fellow Indian in an international event in seven years.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
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