Chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Monday singled out world number one doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as favourites for an Olympic medal and said two-time medallist PV Sindhu too is on the right path and can deliver once again at the Paris Games.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the final of the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a thrilling straight-games victory over the world No.2 Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, in Yeosu, on Saturday.
HS Prannoy had almost given up on winning his next title and breaking a six-year long drought before chief national coach Pullela Gopichand instilled in him the belief.
HS Prannoy secured his maiden BWF World Tour title
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.
PV Sindhu produced another impressive show as she rallied to a three-game win over USA's Beiwen Zhang to advance to the women's singles quarterfinals
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.
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.
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.
The Indonesian had defeated Sindhu twice in the last three meetings this year, including one at the Madrid Spain Masters final, though the Indian came into the match with an overall 8-2 head-to-head record.
Rankireddy and Shetty won 21-12, 21-16 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 49 minutes.
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.
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.
P V Sindhu has made early exits in as many as seven of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year.
Sathish Kumar wins men's singles title, Tanisha-Dhruv claim mixed doubles crown at Odisha Masters
A sensational run over the last two weeks has given wings to Ashwini Ponnappa's Olympics dreams, and the ace Indian shuttler now wants to continue her fine run in the upcoming bigger tournaments to stay on course for a trip to Paris.
2023 was marked by outstanding sporting achievements, shattered records, and the crowning of new champions, all captured by photographers documenting every significant twist and turn.
Battling an inconsistent form, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu on Tuesday slipped five places to world number 17 in the latest BWF world rankings.
Satwik and Chirag jumped one spot in the latest BWF rankings to regain the fifth place.
World number 14 Kidambi Srikanth has also withdrawn from the tournament and is in quarantine due to his close contact with Sai Praneeth, BWF said. Srikanth had returned a negative result on Monday.
Newly-crowned Canada Open champion Lakshya Sen will hope to continue his winning momentum while beginning his campaign at the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament.
PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen notched up contrasting wins to advance to the semifinals of the Canada Open
Earlier, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had said in an update that Satwik had suffered a groin injury.
Kiran George wins Indonesia Masters to grab second super 100 title
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.
India signed off in 12th place in the last edition in 2019, with the country's best result being a fourth-place finish in the 2008 edition.
Lakshya Sen suffered a stunning first round exit as India's challenge came to an end in the German Open.
A weak return from Prannoy was disposed off quickly as Ka Long lead 17-8. Prannoy tried to up the pace only to falter at the net.
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.
After Indonesia and South Korea on Friday joined Thailand, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Algeria in pulling out due to the dreaded disease
Nozomi Okuhara's harrowing experience after her touchdown in India was 'unfortunate and won't happen in future'
India's Tokyo Paralympics gold winner Pramod Bhagat was on Thursday named among six shuttlers for the Male Para Badminton Player of the Year by the sport's world body but none of his compatriots featured in the able-bodied awards' categories.
P V Sindhu sought the help of the legendary Prakash Padukone and trained at his academy in Bengaluru last week.
'Both Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy have been cleared to participate in the ongoing Yonex Thailand Open after the fourth-round tests reports confirmed that both shuttlers have been tested negative for COVID-19.'
The Badminton World Federation has postponed the Thomas and Uber Cup, the premier global men's and women's team championship, to be held in Denmark for three months from the earlier scheduled date in May in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Lakshya Sen said the win against reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng gives him confidence and belief in the Olympic qualification year.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty earned India's first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games
Chirag said "it is difficult to stay motivated" in such uncertain times.
