Two-time Olympic medallist and fourth seed PV Sindhu made a positive start to her title defence on Wednesday, beating Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland 21-9, 21-16 in a lopsided opening round women's singles match.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that the government will keep in close touch with all relevant groups to ensure a virus outbreak does not have affect the Summer Olympics. Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto said organisers are not considering cancelling the Olympics, which start on July 24.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu scored contrasting victories to enter the third round of the women's singles at the World Badminton Championships in Guangzhou on Wednesday.
The Rio Games silver winner easily notched up a 21-14, 21-15 win over unseeded Japanese Aya Ohori in the second round match that lasted just 40 minutes.
After a year's delay due to COVID-19, the 19th Asian Games officially opens in Hangzhou on Saturday with hosts China eager to lift a country mired in economic gloom.
List of international sports events affected by the coronavirus that has killed over 900 people and infected more than 40,000 in China
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes that poured in for Badminton Association of India president Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta, who passed away in Lucknow after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Olympics-bound Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu easily won their women's singles first round matches in the Badminton Asia Championships, in Wuhan, China, on Wednesday.
After much dilly-dallying, the Sports Ministry has included Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in the 'Target Olympic Podium Scheme' (TOP) scheme, putting an end to the controversy surrounding the doubles duo's complaint of bias against the Ministry and chief national coach Pullela Gopichand.
The Indian women's team went down to Indonesia 1-3 for its second loss in the Badminton Asia Team Championships in, Alor Setar, on Friday.
The World No. 2 had pulled out of Badminton Asia Team Championships because of injury earlier this month, and also exempted herself from participating in the Lucknow Open and South Asian Championships to work on her fitness.
Lakshya Sen's stunning win over Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie went in vain as the Indian men's badminton team went down fighting 2-3 to two-time defending champions Indonesia in the semi-finals to settle for a bronze at the Asia Team Championships in Manila on Saturday.
Sindhu leads India to 3-2 win over Hong Kong in Asia badminton Team Championship
With five titles under his belt, Lakshya Sen was racing towards the top echelons of international badminton before his stunning run was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, which brought all sporting action to a halt across the world. With the world in lockdown to contain the deadly disease, Lakshya too is enduring the uncertain times within the confines of his apartment, near the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru.
A look at the historic achievements by India's athletes in 2022.
After a string of disappointing results, PV Sindhu parted ways with coach Park Tae Sang
India's ace shullter Saina Nehwal put up a strong fight but went down 13-21, 21-13, 6-21 to World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying in Denmark Open final on Sunday.
India badminton team have been accorded the top seed this time and are clubbed with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Scotland in Group A.
Though Sindhu decided against travelling to Denmark, she plans to participate in the Asia Open-I and Asia Open-II scheduled to be held in November.
One of the strong medal hopefuls from badminton at the upcoming Olympics, PV Sindhu said she wants to break into the top 7 in world ranking before the Rio Games in August.
Sindhu does not expect her prolonged pandemic-related absence to hamper her preparations for next year's rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The celebration of this historic feat was not yet over when Indian shuttlers scripted yet another jaw-dropping show in Birmingham, returning with six medals, including three golds, a silver and two bronze medals in August.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are aiming to win their maiden title at the All England championships, secure a Paris Olympics berth, and possibly emerge No 1 in the world.
I don't want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond, Gopichand retorts to PV Sindhu's father's allegations of unsatisfactory training.
Lakshya Sen said the win against reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng gives him confidence and belief in the Olympic qualification year.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
The Indian challenge ended at the Asia Badminton Championship after Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy went down fighting in the singles semi-finals, in Wuhan, on Saturday.
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.
In hockey, the women's team continued its inspiring run with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The BWF also shared its Standard Operation Procedure with member associations, saying any breach "can result in accreditation being revoked and participants not permitted to enter the venue."
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
These talented youngsters prove that nothing is impossible.
Former India badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday blamed the withdrawals by Asian nations for the postponement of the Thomas and Uber Cup Final, calling it a "big setback" for the sport.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton.
India began their campaign Badminton Asia Team Championships in style with both men's and women's teams posting victories against their Singapore rivals to make it to the quarterfinals. Indian men made a clean sweep of their five-match tie against Singapore, who had lost to China two days ago. India, China and Singapore are part of Group A. Despite the absence of star player Saina Nehwal, the Indian women registered a comprehensive 5-0 win against Singapore and also entered the quarter finals as the Singapore team lost to Japan earlier. Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches. India's rising shuttler Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over his Singapore rival Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first Singles match. The Singaporean tried to make matters difficult for Srikanth, but the world number nine bounced back to have the last laugh.
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.
Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap suffered a major blow to his Olympic qualification hopes when he retired hurt midway through the German Open pre-quarterfinals at Mulheim an der Ruhr on Thursday.
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