Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for the Woman Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation after a consistent season which saw her occupy the world number one spot for a brief period.
'I have grown up in an environment where the dominant narrative of Indian sporting achievement was -- We can't.' 'These achievers have fought hard, built on each other's body of work and knowledge, and have today changed the script to -- We can,' notes Rahul Dravid,cricketing legend.
From Covid-19 essentials, such as Vitamin C supplements and thermometers, to bicycles, laptops, and personal weighing scales, demand for certain items galloped during last financial year as the pandemic altered what Indians used on a day-to-day basis. Imports of outdoor sports equipment, handbags for women, and dentures, among others, plummeted. With outdoor activities coming to a halt last year and schools functioning virtually, imports of sports goods witnessed a decline, while inbound shipments of laptops and battery chargers saw a sharp uptick, according to the import data for the financial year 2020-21.
Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their respective singles matches, while Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa triumphed in the mixed doubles to help India outclass Malaysia in the final and clinch the gold medal in the Mixed Team badminton gold medal match at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Far from mourning the end of her brief reign as the World No 1, shuttler Saina Nehwal is happy.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) put in place 14 high-level expert committees, which have been mandated to identify the country's medal prospects and provide them with specialised training in the run up to the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to be held later this year.
Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal regained the No 1 spot in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings.
>There's still hope and plenty to play for, says Rediff.com's Aruneel Sadadekar.
They shut up the naysers with sheer success.
The Sports Ministry on Monday decided to recommend ace shuttler Saina Nehwal for the Padma Bhushan award but insisted that it did not receive her nomination from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) within the stipulated deadline.
Embattled shuttler Jwala Gutta said the national federation should not construe her "suggestions" as criticism since she had nothing against them and imposition of a life ban because of her blunt talking would be "silly".
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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The Sports Ministry's nominee, Madhumita Bisht, will travel to Hyderabad and meet with the players to end the impasse.
Srikanth, a former world number one, was left with a bloodied nose after going through multiple COVID tests ahead of the YONEX Thailand Open earlier this year.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The new BWF rule which makes wearing skirts on court mandatory for female shuttlers from May 1 is something that the Indian eves are finding it a bit uncomfortable.
Also seen in action for India will be the shuttlers, boxers, the women's hockey team and the table tennis players among others.
Despite clinching the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold men's title, India's K Srikanth remained static at World No. 9 while P V Sindhu dropped a place to be No.12 in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings released on Thursday. The women's singles' ranking list had Saina Nehwal holding on to her World No. 2. place despite skipping the Lucknow event, where she was the defending champion. Runners-up in men's doubles event at Syed Modi, Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar improved two places to be at World No. 34, while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who lost in the opening round at Lucknow, dropped two places to be at No. 20. A quarterfinal loss at Syed Modi event also had an adverse affect on P Kashyap as he slipped to World No. 15, while H S Prannoy slumped seven places to be at 27th spot. Ajay Jayaram was static at No. 25.
Embattled shuttler Jwala Gutta moved the Delhi high court on Wednesday against the Badminton Association of India after its disciplinary committee recommended a life ban on her for an alleged code of conduct breach in the Indian Badminton League.
A top official from the national federation of a prominent Olympic sport asked if Batra would deem the competition good enough if shooting is brought back into the CWG fold.
Mahesh Bhupathi says for India to host big-ticket WTA events, the country needs to produce a top-50 women's singles player, who can bring the fans to the stadium.
Projected as an outsider by the ruling camp, cricketer-turned-politician Mohammad Azharuddin on Thursday fired a salvo at Badminton Association of India president VK Verma, saying the BAI chief is not eligible for re-election and should gracefully walk after having played a "long innings".
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Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P V Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday. Saina, who clinched her second Australian Open title earlier this month, exchanged places with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who now occupies the sixth spot in the women's singles list headed by Spain's Carolina Marin.
Mohammed Azharuddin's last-minute backing out rendered Sunday's Badminton Association of India (BAI) elections in Chennai a one-horse race and the former cricket captain said he decided to skip it after failing to get a stay order on the contest.
In 2014, Bindra was elected chairman of the International Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) Athletes Committee, becoming the first Indian to receive the honour.
P V Sindhu, will have to punch above its weight to salvage any hopes of a medal after being handed a tough draw in the badminton event at the 18th Asian Games.
The move to oust Indian Olympic Association president N Ramachandran appears to be gathering steam as Badminton Association of India also joined the chorus in demanding a No Confidence Motion against him by calling a Special General Meeting.
Saina Nehwal has gained a place to be fifth in the latest Badminton World Federation women's singles rankings released on Thursday.
India's 572 athletes hope to return home with an overflowing treasure chest of medals.
The Sports Ministry on Thursday said it has started a "thorough review" of India's dismal outing at the Rio Olympics and is also seeking feedback and suggestions from the athletes who competed in the quadrennial extravaganza. India finished with a disappointing two medals, through PV Sindhu's silver in badminton and Sakhsi Malik's bronze in wrestling, at the two-week sporting gala last month.
Asked about Saina Nehwal, whose 2012 London Games bronze medal winning show was a path breaker for Indian women's badminton, Padukone is confident that the 26-year-old former World number one will be regain her best form.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Many top athletes around the globe might be pulling out of the Rio Olympics due to Zika virus concern but chef de mission of the Indian Olympic contingent Rakesh Gupta said they are taking every possible step to address any possible risk. "We are concerned about Zika virus but we are taking every possible precaution for the Indian contingent that will travel to Rio. Whatever advisory we have received from the international body we have forwarded that to the players and federations," Gupta said on the sidelines of an event where Amul became the official sponsor of the Indian contingent.
Legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone feels Anup Sridhar is one of India's best bets to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics. The Bangalore lad will be the country's lone men's singles challenger at the prestigious quadrennial event in Beijing.
Malaysia's top badminton player Lee Chong Wei wrested the Malaysian Open title when he defeated world number one Chen Long at Shah Alam on Sunday. The world No. 4 won 21-13, 21-8 to clinch his record 11th title in Malaysia, which also comes as a much-needed boost in his pursuit of a still-elusive Olympic gold medal. The world number four shuttler was in fine form for the Malaysian competition after suffering early exits in the All England Championships and India Open in March. "Many critics have said that I should retire after some poor performances. But I know within myself that I am capable of still producing the goods at the highest level and this win was the proof of that," said the 33-year old Lee.
It was a day when India counted the silvers, a total of five, even though there was no gold in the tally.
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