Two players withdrawn from India Open due to COVID-19
Parupalli Kashyap entered the quarterfinals after top seed and Olympic champion Axelsen gave a walkover.
Facing criticism for packing 22 tournaments in five months in its revised calendar, the Badminton World Federation on Wednesday said the disrupted Olympic qualification process will restart only next year with players having the benefit of holding on to the ranking points they have already secured.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced a new 2020 tournaments calendar on Friday with the World Tour set to return with the Taipei Open from Sept. 1-6.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF), in a statement, said the escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally forced it to cancel or postpone all tournaments from March 16 to April 12.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday said it might freeze the world rankings for a while as it works on a "fair solution" to the Olympic qualification process after the coronavirus pandemic forced a postponement of the Tokyo Games to 2021. There have been growing calls to freeze the world rankings after cancellations and postponements wrecked the sport's calendar. Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy have been leading the way in expressing concerns.
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.
It was a mixed day for India in the All England Championship as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichanda clinched a stunning win, while Lakshya Sen crashed out.
After a string of disappointing results, PV Sindhu parted ways with coach Park Tae Sang
The Indian team, comprising Olympic hopefuls PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth, have been allotted training timings. The players also had their first gym session in the afternoon.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has said that it will not restrict Chinese players from participating in international competitions due to the coronavirus epidemic. Over 550 people have died in mainland China due to the flu-like virus after it first emerged in Wuhan, Hubei province, late last year and it has also shut down Chinese cities and forced thousands more into quarantine around the world.
Denmark's 2017 World Champion Viktor Axelsen and home favourite Okuhara Nozomi, who won bronze at Rio 2016, are also among the star names.
This spin serve has proved to be a handful for the opposition players, who have struggled to send it back as the shuttle twists and falls across the net.
This is the second time in her career, after April 6 this year that Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu has occupied the second spot on the leaderboard.
More sporting bodies sanctioned Russian and Belarusian athletes on Tuesday over Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Former India skipper Virat Kohli, four-time grand slam winner Naomi Osaka of Japan and decorated gymnast Simon Biles of the USA, are some of the star athletes who have been candid about their struggles with mental health.
'We told them we are ready to conduct the India Open in December or January but it all depends on how this global health crisis comes under control and if we get the government approval'
Overall, Anupama is only the sixth Indian shuttler to top the junior rankings.
The Tokyo Games, originally scheduled to start in July this year, have been postponed to July 23-August 8, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be followed by the Paralympic Games which will run from August 24-September 5.
Many believe the Thomas Cup victory can do for badminton what the 1983 World Cup triumph did for cricket in India.
The apex body had also announced that ranking points earned at tournaments during the original qualification phase will be maintained.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
The prestigious event was originally scheduled to be held from May 16-24 but was postponed to August 15-23 before finally rescheduling it in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday.
In sizzling form after clinching the China Open and finishing runners-up at Hong Kong, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu will look to sign off the year with another crown when she competes in the season-ending World Superseries Finals starting in Dubai from Wednesday. In Rio de Janeiro, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win an Olympics silver medal in August, but qualifying for the Dubai World Super Series final still was a far cry as she was placed at 16th in the Destination Dubai Rankings with just two events -- China Open and Hong Kong Open -- remaining.
Lakshya Sen, returning from a break, suffered a first round exit, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand entered the pre-quarters of the Asia Badminton Championship.
In hockey, the women's team continued its inspiring run with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu reached the women's singles final of the Syed Modi International badminton tournament after her fifth seeded Russian opponent Evgeniya Kosetskaya retired hurt midway into their semi-final in Lucknow on Saturday.
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
Earlier, BWF and Badminton England had delayed the start of the event by a couple of hours following a 'significant number' of inconclusive COVID-19 test results.
India's star shuttler P V Sindhu pulled out of the upcoming BWF World Championships on Saturday following a stress fracture on her left foot.
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.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire after pulling his calf muscle.
India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will be seen in action for the first time since the coronavirus-forced break when they compete in three upcoming tournaments in Bangkok, including the prestigious BWF World Tour Finals.
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.
Expectations from the Indian male shuttlers will also be high, given their exploits in recent months.
Sindhu was made to toil hard by China's He Bing Jiao
Suhas L Yathiraj along Manoj Sarkar on Friday qualified after the game's governing body BWF granted two bipartite quotas to India, making it a seven-member contingent at the Tokyo Games, beginning August 24.
The BWF have developed a new outdoor shuttlecock, the AirShuttle, with increased durability, stability and wind resistance to allow people to play on hard, grass and sand surfaces.
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