India's ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, who recently triumphed in the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix, made a leap of six places to reach a career-best ranking of 14th in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.
India's shuttlers, including London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, expressed shock after reports emerged that a sparring partner of the Taiwanese national team, who was in Birmingham during the All England Championship, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Earlier, BWF and Badminton England had delayed the start of the event by a couple of hours following a 'significant number' of inconclusive COVID-19 test results.
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.
For India to send two shuttlers in Tokyo Olympics women's singles, both of them will have to be inside top 16 in the world rankings which will be released after the end of qualification period, on April 30, 2020.
'We told them we are ready to conduct the India Open in December or January but it all depends on how this global health crisis comes under control and if we get the government approval'
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.
This is the second time in her career, after April 6 this year that Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu has occupied the second spot on the leaderboard.
Former badminton world number one Lee Chong Wei is hoping to be back on court for the start of the 2016 Olympic qualifiers in May after finally being given an April date for a hearing into his failed dope test.
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.
The Badminton World Federation has postponed the Thomas and Uber Cup, the premier global men's and women's team championship, to be held in Denmark for three months from the earlier scheduled date in May in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sports ministry cleared the final contingent that also features 140 support staff and officials, of which 72 "have been approved at cost to the Government" to meet the "requirements" of the travelling sportspersons.
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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.
Riding on her stupendous performance in the Sudirman Cup, ace Indian women shuttler Saina Nehwal has climbed up three places to the seventh spot in the latest ranking issued by the Badminton World Federation. Saina, who was ranked 10 before the start of the tournament in Guangzhou, won all her four matches and now has a total of 58454.4 rating points in her kitty.
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The All India Tennis Association claimed that Sumit Nagal demanded an annual fee of $50,000 to play Davis Cup ties for India.
Legendary Prakash Padukone was revered as the world number one player during his hey days before the modern day computerised ranking system was introduced.
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.
HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma are the men's singles players who have decided to withdraw while doubles specialists Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have also opted out. Leading Indian women's singles players PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - both previous Olympic medallists - are making the trip to England, as are their male counterparts Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth.
The 2020 international calendar concluded with the three tournaments in the Asia leg which was conducted in Bangkok in successive weeks.
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
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
'Both Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy have been cleared to participate in the ongoing Yonex Thailand Open after the fourth-round tests reports confirmed that both shuttlers have been tested negative for COVID-19.'
Tata group has been a constant in India's sporting landscape and the conglomerate's involvement only grew under Ratan Tata.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
The Indian ace, who attained a career-best No 1 after winning the India Open at the end of March, dropped a rung in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday. Defeat in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier to reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China saw the London Olympics bronze medallist drop to No 2.
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.
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.
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.
Para-athlete and current para-badminton world champion Manasi Joshi, climate activist Ridhima Pandey and Isaivani for breaking male domination in the field of Tamil Nadu's Gaana singing also made the list.
P V Sindhu hopes to continue her rich vein of form in upcoming events, including the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, after winning the Singapore Open on Sunday.
'Well, I think every year, in the last few years, has been better than the previous one'
Lakshya Sen, his father and physio reached Bangalore, Dey and Jayaram took a flight from Frankfurt to Delhi.
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.
Australia's winter sports community has been forced back into mourning with the sudden death of 20-year-old Olympic figure skater Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya in Moscow.
Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap have urged badminton's governing body to reconsider its decision not to extend the qualification period for the Tokyo Games despite several events being cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
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