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
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.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Overall, Anupama is only the sixth Indian shuttler to top the junior rankings.
The apex body had also announced that ranking points earned at tournaments during the original qualification phase will be maintained.
Many believe the Thomas Cup victory can do for badminton what the 1983 World Cup triumph did for cricket in India.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday.
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.
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.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire after pulling his calf muscle.
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.
In hockey, the women's team continued its inspiring run with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
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.
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 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.
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.
India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand believes the Tokyo Olympics should be postponed given the unprecedented crisis that the world is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sindhu has agreed to compete in next month's Thomas and Uber Cup after deciding to pull out of the event earlier due to personal reasons
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.
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
India cruised to a 3-0 win over minnows South Africa to progress to the semifinals
In the women's doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won 21-18, 21-19 against the Dutch duo of Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen. Treesa and Gayatri face Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching and Lin Wan Ching in the quarter-finals.
HS Prannoy went down fighting to World No 7 Japanese Kodai Naraoka in a thrilling quarter-final at the Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
India's top shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth registered straight-game victories to make impressive starts to their singles campaigns at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Bali on Wednesday.
The World No 1 ended his long wait for a title with a 21-17, 21-11 win over Antonsen on Sunday.
However, it was curtains for former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap after he went down 10-21 19-21 to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
Prannoy looked in good touch as he reeled off five points on the trot to zoom to a comfortable 11-4 lead. However, the Indian was guilty of missing the lines twice and also found the net, allowing Wang to cut the deficit to three points at 11-14.
In what was India's first-ever appearance in the tournament finale, they defeated the record 14-time champions Indonesia 3-0 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand to lift the Thomas Cup 2022 title.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
The BWF was forced to cancel multiple tournaments and postpone the Asia leg and the World Tour Final to January next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India's badminton ace P V Sindhu entered the summit clash of BWF World Tour Finals with a hard fought win over Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the semi-finals, in Bali, on Saturday.
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.
