'The Paris Olympics has once again blessed the Indian sports marketing landscape with fresh faces and promises.' 'Expect at least one biopic.'
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.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will lock horns with Japan's Koki Watanabe, while Sourabh Verma faces France's Toma Junior Popov.
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.
After guiding Hyderabad Hotshots to the inaugural Indian Badminton League title, Saina Nehwal has cited fatigue and will skip the Japan Open Super Series tournament.
Several athletes, including the hockey men's and women's teams of India, took part in the flag-hoisting ceremony at the CWG Village on Thursday.
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.
Top Indian shuttlers, including world champion P V Sindhu, will be able to hit the courts from July 1 if the Telangana government allows the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to organise a national camp in Hyderabad. With COVID-19 cases surging in Hyderabad, the Telangana government, as a precautionary measure, extended the lockdown till June 30 but it meant the resumption of the sport got further delayed for the top players in the state.
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.
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
No Indians featured in the women's doubles and mixed doubles rankings.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday said India has adequate infrastructure for badminton but don't have enough coaches and academies. "There is no problem on infrastructure front, but what we don't have enough number of academies and coaches, like the Chinese have," she told PTI. Saina has been practising in Bengaluru after recovering from a knee injury which had affected her progress at Rio Olympics. She had lost her second group match against Ukraine's Maria Ulitina to crash out of the mega event.
The Badminton Association of India is optimistic about China's participation in next month's India Open despite fears surrounding the deadly coronavirus as Chinese shuttlers are in quarantine for almost a fortnight in Europe.
Kim had developed a good rapport with Sindhu, who time and again acknowledged the Korean's role in her success.
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.
Young Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha recorded the first upset of the India Open when she stunned fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya while top seed P V Sindhu sailed into the women's singles second round of the tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
Threatened with a ban by the administrators and labelled enfant terrible by her detractors, ace shuttler Jwala Gutta says such has been the 'hurt and pain' of the last six months that she hasn't been able to celebrate her bronze medal success at the recent Asian Badminton Championships to the fullest.
'Badminton has best shot at medals in Tokyo and a letter was sent to IOA to this respect on Monday mentioning the six-member support team that also includes chief coach Gopichand's name along with the squad of four players.'
Jwala Gutta launched a verbal tirade against the Badminton Association of India on Friday, saying the decision to recommend a life ban on her has only made it a laughing stock.
After a string of disappointing results, PV Sindhu parted ways with coach Park Tae Sang
He also called upon the government and other stakeholders to streamline the processes where an athlete could just concentrate on his training and performance without having to bother about other issues.
Embattled shuttler Jwala Gutta is surprised that India's chief badminton coach, Pullela Gopichand, is still silent on the proposed life ban on her by the Badminton Association of India for alleged breach of discipline.
The Badminton Association of India too would hope Saina has gold to declare when she lands at Delhi airport after the Olympics. For that would establish the BAI as a soothsayer of sorts, writes TS Sudhir
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.
National coach Pullela Gopichand refused to comment on the controversy over Prajakta Sawant who had accused him of "mental harassment" in her petition to the Bombay High Court which has allowed the shuttler to attend the ongoing training camp at his badminton academy in Hyderabad.
Two-time Olympics medallist P V Sindhu opted out citing post-Olympics recovery.
Top shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, are likely to leave for Malaysia and Singapore via Doha to participate in the last two Olympic qualifiers next month due to travel bans imposed by the two countries in the wake of unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases in India.
The Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, one of badminton's last two Olympic qualifying events, was on Friday postponed due to a recent COVID-19 surge in the host country, dealing a severe blow to the Tokyo hopes of Indian stars like Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.
Tasnim Mir, who earlier this month became the first Indian to claim world number one status in the U-19 category, beat Keyura Mopati 13-21, 21-14, 21-19 to set up a second round clash against Malvika Bansod.
After riding high on the success of her latest movie Padmaavat, actress Deepika Padukone was seen in New Delhi on Tuesday night at the felicitation ceremony of her father and Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone.
Prannoy took to Twitter to express his displeasure.
The Badminton Association of India will investigate doubles player Jwala Gutta's alleged role in provoking some players of her Indian Badminton League (IBL) team Krrish Delhi Smashers against playing a match versus Banga Beats.
Dipa Karmakar says the roads in Agartala are too narrow for a BMW and also the city does not have a single BMW showroom or service centre.
The former All England Badminton champion is set to take over as India's chief badminton coach for a four-year period.
Gupta, 56, was a Rajya Sabha member and was minister for steel in the United Progressive Alliance government.
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.
Star India shuttler P V Sindhu made an exit from Thailand Open after going down in straight games to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in the semi-finals in Bangkok on Saturday.
Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China is all set to make his debut at the fifth edition of the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries badminton tournament, scheduled to be held at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here from March 24 to 29.
The Badminton Association of India chief is the first Indian to occupy a senior position in the IBF.
Badminton Association of India secretary-general Vijai Sinha has alleged that certain individuals within the federation are fuelling rumours about star shuttler Jwala Gutta's link-up with former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. He called upon the officials and members of the BAI to stand alongside players under attack and foil the ill attempts being made against them.
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