Kidambi Srikanth entered the men's singles semi-finals at the Hong Kong Open after fifth seed Chen Long of China decided to quit the contest owing to an injury, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open in April.
Star India shuttler PV Sindhu was stunned by North Eastern Warriors' Michelle Li in straight games as former champions Hyderabad Hunters' made a disappointing start to its home leg of the Premier Badminton League in Hyderabad on Wednesday. World champion Sindhu suffered an 8-15, 9-15 defeat against World No 10 Canadian Li in a lop-sided women's singles contest.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand admitted to crammed BWF itinerary causing a problem but at the same time believes that onus is on a player of PV Sindhu's calibre to adapt to the calendar instead of complaining about it. Apart from the World Championships gold, Sindhu failed to win any other tournament last year.
Sindhu went down 15-21, 16-21 to the fourth seed
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.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said the academic training at the National Centre of Excellence and Sports Auhtority of India Training Centres will also be suspended.
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.
National camp to resume on Monday.
Verma who had shocked Malaysia's eighth seed Lee Zii Jia in the opening round, needed just 39 minutes to see off Gemke
The London Olympics bronze medallist was trailing 4-10 in the opening game when Marin decided to withdraw from the contest.
Saina Nehwal underwent a scan to diagnose her Achilles tendon problems and has been prescribed rest for a couple of weeks.
Recovering from an ankle injury, star India shuttler Saina Nehwal said she will look to get back to her full fitness during the three weeks break after the India Open next month.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian pair to win a BWF Super 500 badminton tournament with a hard-fought victory over Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the final of Thailand Open.
It is first final of the 2019 season for Rankireddy and Shetty, the men's doubles silver medallist at 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Star shuttler Saina Nehwal will donate Rs 2 lakh for the people affected by the heavy rains and flood in Tamil Nadu.
Srikanth spent the early part of the lockdown in his home town, where he was unable to train at his normal level. It was an opportunity for him to reflect on life outside badminton.
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.
Shuttler N Sikki Reddy and physiotherapist Kiran C have tested positive for COVID-19 at the ongoing national camp, forcing the closure of the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad for sanitisation.
Reigning World champion Pramod Bhagat continued India's fine showing at the Tokyo Paralympics with a gold medal in the badminton SL3 class event, in Tokyo, on Saturday. The 33-year-old Bhagat, who is also the world No. 1 and current Asian champion, scored a 21-11, 21-16 win over Japan's Daisuke Fujihara in the first SL3 class semi-final, which lasted 36 minutes.
Srikanth had entered the finals of Commonwealth Games last year but he failed to reach the summit clash in any BWF superseries or BWF World Tour tournament since his French Open win in October, 2017.
For all her achievements, says Bikash Mohapatra, Saina is yet to win either the Worlds, Olympics or All England, badminton's flagship events.
Srikanth showed great determination to outwit Korea's World No 25 Lee Dong Keun 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a second-round clash that clocked an hour and 13 minutes. The Indian had lost twice to the 27-year-old Korean in the past two meetings.
Prannoy took to Twitter to express his displeasure.
Rio Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu jumped two places to achieve her career-best ranking of seven, while Saina Nehwal was also back in the top 10, in the latest BWF World Ranking.
Former badminton No 1 Lee Chong Wei returned home to Malaysia and said he faced a three-week wait for the verdict from his doping hearing.
Star Indian shuttler P V Sindhu cruised into the quarter-finals of the All England Championships women's singles with a straight-game win over Sung Ji Hyun of Korea, in Birmingham, on Thursday.Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen was knocked out after losing in straight games to Victor Axelsen.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth have sealed their spots at the prestigious BWF World Superseries Finals for the second successive time.
Fourth seeded Sindhu took 39 minutes to get the better of World No 22 Mia 21-13, 21-19, her second straight win over the Dane.
P V Sindhu won the ESPN's 'Female Sportsperson of the Year' award while young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the honour in the male category.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu continued her unbeaten run while debutant Sameer Verma also qualified for the knockout stage with a straight-game win in his last Group B match at the BWF World Tour Finals.
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.
Prannoy said a psychologist could have helped him deal with it better and hoped there will be a structure in place to assist the players in the times to come.
The Indian pair had participated in Super 1000 events in 2018 and 2019 but this is the first time it entered the semi-finals.
Sporting fraternity hails Sindhu's historic World C'ships gold
Star shuttler HS Prannoy on Saturday questioned the criteria for Arjuna Award selection, saying knowing people who can push a nomination is more important than performances on court.
Saina Nehwal, who won a bronze at the World Championship, jumped four rungs to be placed at the 12th spot, while Kidambi Srikanth also improved two positions in the latest BWF World ranking.
Sindhu yet again struggled to buck the trend of early exits
Denmark beat Indonesia 3-2 in the final Sunday, making the Scandinavian country the first European team to win the competition.
India's badminton doubles specialist N Sikki Reddy on Saturday heaved a sigh of relief after returning negative for COVID-19 barely two days after testing positive for the contagious disease, saying she was "shocked" by the not-so-kind reactions her initial result attracted.
