The Indian shuttlers were handed a favourable draw in the World Badminton Championship with world number six Saina Nehwal getting a first-round bye at the event to be held in Hyderabad from August 10-16. In the men's singles too, Indians have a decent draw with world number 15th Chetan Anand opening his campaign against Ji Hoon Hong of Korea, while Arvind Bhat crossing swords with ninth seed Yu Hsing Hsieh of Chinese Taipei.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand expressed satisfaction after P V Sindhu's superb show on Friday ensured India a bronze medal at the World Championship.
Saina offered her support to PV Sindhu's decision to seek a change in her training approach.
India's badminton team lost their Group D tie against South Korea 2-3 in the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship.
China's Lin Dan eased into the second round of the World badminton championships with a 21-11, 21-10 success over Lithuanian Kestutis Navickas, while Wang Shixian, China's top seed in the women's singles, started her campaign with a comfortable 21-11, 21-14 victory over Bulgaria's Linda Zechiri on Tuesday.
Former India football captain Baichung Bhutia was given the Lifetime Achievement award, while hockey legend and three-time Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Sr was honoured with the Icon of the Century award.
Indian shuttler Tarun Dhillon missed out on a bronze medal after he faced a defeat at the hands of Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in the men's singles SL4 event of the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday.
The Indian badminton team returned empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time in over a decade.
Except for shooting, a major Olympic sport, most of the top stars in other disciplines will give the National Games a miss.
'If you are willing to shine like the sun, you must be willing to burn like it.'
'Nobody is getting an easy point anywhere. It is just that you have to fight for each point'
Lakshya Sen registered an easy 21-9, 21-15 win over Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in his pre-quarterfinal match.
Just 18 months after pairing up, the young mixed doubles pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath rise to World No 33.
A Malaysian coach was quarantined with swine flu symptoms at the world badminton championships in Hyderabad on Tuesday, while a doubles pair from Thailand pulled out of a match after one of them complained of fever. K Subhakar, a government official, told reporters that a member of the Malaysian coaching staff has been admitted to the regional chest hospital after displaying H1N1 virus symptoms.
Lee, who was diagnosed with early stage nose cancer last year, said he opted to retire after being told by doctors that his body could no longer take the intense training needed for high-level competition.
India's badminton queen PV Sindhu revealed that working with new coach Kim Ji Hyun along with the guidance from Pullela Gopichand has been instrumental in taking her game to the next level.
Kidambi Srikanth's winning run at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament came to an end after a semi-final loss to Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi in Basel on Saturday night.
The Hyderabad shuttler beat Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland to storm into the men's singles pre-quarter-finals at the Hong Kong Open.
But Saina, who had lost in the quarter-finals last year, is set to gain 3600 points having made it to the World Championships final this year. Saina will therefore, now have 82, 792 points to her tally, giving her the World No 1 title again.
Already through to the quarter-finals, defending champions India continued their rampaging run as they beat Australia 4-1 in their final group A match of mixed team competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Saina Nehwal beat third seed Shixian Wang of China 22-20, 21-12 in the semi-finals of the girls' singles. However, another Indian, fifth seed Gurusaidutt's lost to third seed Zhengming Wang of China 16-21, 21-17, 17-21 in the semi-finals of the boys' singles.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the World Badminton Championships with a straight-set demolition of Chloe Magee of Ireland to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles in London.
Jia Min was happy to execute her plan but acknowledged that her opponent was not at her best shape.
The emotional and financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic is weighing on Indian shuttler HS Prannoy's mind and he believes that the already "bleak" scenario would only get worse if things don't take a turn for the better in one and a half month's time. The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 40,000 globally, has put countries in lockdown and halted sports, including badminton, across the world. It has also triggered financial and mental woes across the world.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to clinch the World Junior Badminton Championship after a straight games victory in the final in Pune on Sunday. The top seed got the better of her ninth seeded Japanese Sayaka Sato 21-9, 21-18 in a match that lasted just 25 minutes.
India's Saina Nehwal cruised into the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships, defeating Russia's Ella Diehl in the third round of the women's singles event in Paris on Thursday.
Another triumphant story was written in Indian badminton as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty romped to a stunning comeback win.
Sachin Tendulkar told me I will become World No 1, says badminton ace Srikanth.
Indian badminton stalwart Ashwini Ponnappa broke down in tears, announcing she has played her last Olympics after she and her partner Tanisha Crasto suffered their third straight defeat in the women's doubles competition of the Paris Games.
Ashwini and Tanisha, who won the Guwahati Masters super 100 title, last month will take on Malaysia's Pei Kee Go and Mei Xing Teoh next.
Join us in congratulating Sindhu on her historic achievement.
I want a room full of medals before retiring, says Chirag Shetty
The Indian mixed doubles team of V Diju and Jwala Gutta eased into the third round beating Malaysia's Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh at the World badminton Championships in Paris, on Tuesday.
PV Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games.
China's Lin Dan survived a big fright before claiming his place in Sunday's World badminton championship final, where he will meet old foe and arch-rival Lee Chong Wei.
Asked if the cancellation of the first match's result had any impact on him, Sen said, "I just took it as a practice match; now it is time for me to just focus on one match at a time. I will rest, recover and try to be at my best against Christie.
Young shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to win the women's and men's singles titles respectively at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships in Delhi on Monday.
Three-time champion Saina Nehwal is likely to clash with fellow Indian P V Sindhu in the women's singles second round of the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier in Jakarta next month.
Sindhu stands on the brink of history as she pursues the gold medal in the upcoming Games, having won a silver and bronze in 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo edition respectively.
