Earlier this month, Sindhu had attained her career-best world number two ranking after clinching her maiden India Open Super Series title.
World champion shuttler P V Sindhu on Thursday donated Rs 5 lakh each to the Chief Minister's Relief Funds of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to fight the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 21,000 lives globally. The number of positive cases in India has surpassed the 600-mark, while 13 deaths have been reported so far, prompting the government to put the country under lockdown till April 14 to halt the spread of the virus.
Back in action after recovering from a knee injury, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she needs good match practice to be at her best in the prestigious All England Championship in March. "I am happy with my improvement. My movements are still sluggish. I still need good match practice," she told reporters here late last night after losing to top-ranked shuttler Carolina Marin in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) match. Saina had sustained an intra-articular injury (inside the joint) in her right knee and had lost in the group stage in the Rio Olympics. She later underwent a surgery and was on rehab.
India's Lakshya Sen won his second successive BWF World Tour Super 100 title with a thrilling victory over China's Weng Hong Yang in the final of the SaarLorLux Open, in Saarbrucken, Germany, on Sunday.
The Indian men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reclaimed its position in the top 10 of the latest BWF rankings.
Satwik and Chirag, ranked sixth in the world, will face the winner of the other semi-final between Indonesia's Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan and second seeds Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh of Malaysia in their maiden World Tour Super 1000 final.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy have been handed relatively easy groups for the Paris Games, which begin on July 26.
HS Prannoy started his campaign at the World Championship in style beating New Zealand's Abhinav Manota in straight games to enter the second round.
The struggle of Indian women shuttlers on the BWF circuit is quite apparent, but Saina Nehwal backs her colleagues by saying that even the strong Chinese players are finding it difficult to dish out strong performances on a consistent basis and expressed hope that the lean patch of the singles players will end soon.
The apex body had also announced that ranking points earned at tournaments during the original qualification phase will be maintained.
The Indian ace will be looking to get the better off the Spaniard in Japan Super Series, starting next week, and avenge her recent defeat at the World Championships.
The star Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be the key attraction in the men's doubles category. However, they are set to face a stiff competition as the line-up includes the three-time world champion and world No. 2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan alongside another Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who are currently ranked eighth in the world.
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.
India's ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, who recently triumphed in the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix, made a leap of six places to reach a career-best ranking of 14th in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.
Returning to action after a break, double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu saw off Turkey's Neslihan Yigit in straight games to join compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma in the second round of the Denmark Open in Odense on Tuesday.
After a string of disappointing results, PV Sindhu parted ways with coach Park Tae Sang
This was the third title for the Indian duo -- they had clinched the Abu Dhabi Masters Super 100 and Nantes International Challenge this year.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth fought their hearts out before suffering close defeats in their respective group 'B' openers at the US$ 1.5 million HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, in Bangkok, on Wednesday.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) have opted against giving twice Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei a wildcard for the world championship, leaving Malaysia in an awkward selection position.
Another impressive week ended with a creditable semifinal finish for star shuttler Lakshya Sen after he stumbled to a three-game loss against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie at the All England Championships in Birmingham on Saturday, prolonging India's long wait for the coveted trophy.
Swiss Open champion Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty strengthened their world number six position, while women's doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand was static at the 18th position.
Owing to their good performances in the Sudirman Cup in China, India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa zoomed to 22nd place, while P Kashyap moved to the 23rd spot in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday.
For all her achievements, says Bikash Mohapatra, Saina is yet to win either the Worlds, Olympics or All England, badminton's flagship events.
The Indian duo ran-up a 7-2 lead early on, before entering the break at 11-7. Satwik and Chirag continued to move ahead and eventually grabbed the opening game.
Sindhu, Sen look to regain lost touch in Canada Open
'We both are big foodies. We make it a point to go out and try different food after our matches.'
Indian badminton ace, Saina Nehwal continued her downward slide in the rankings falling to No 7 in the list.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty enjoyed another memorable 'Evening in Paris', lifting the French Open badminton crown for the second time with a dominating straight-game victory over Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the men's doubles final in Paris on Sunday.
Besides, the BAI also recommended renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches -- S Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu -- for the Dronacharya Award.
India's top shuttler, Parupalli Kashyap climbed a notch to the 13th position in the men's singles table in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.
Lakshya Sen went down fighting against reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China in the men's singles semi-finals.
Riding on her title-triumph at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, India's P V Sindhu, on Thursday, jumped one place to be just outside the top 10 in the latest BWF ranking.
Prannoy signs off with maiden World Championships bronze medal after losing semifinal to Vitidsarn
Kidambi Srikanth's opening round match ended in agony as he retired due to a knee injury after lagging 14-21, 3-11 against Japan's fifth seed Kodai Naraoka.
Commonwealth Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won a bronze medal at the World Championships in August, will play Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han, who got the better of England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15, 21-14 in the other semi-final.
The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
Kidambi Srikanth is against any drastic changes in the scoring system being contemplated by the world body.
Riding on her stupendous performance at the Australian Open Super Series, Indian ace Saina Nehwal jumped two places to reach the World No. six in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad, who clinched the Australian Open title -- her first of the season - last Sunday, now has 75,369 points in her kitty.
While praising the depth in the Indian men's ranks and expecting it to last for the next 10 years, badminton legend Prakash Padukone lamented that the women's side did not possess the same depth in class after world no. 2 Saina Nehwal and no. 12 P V Sindhu.
