India's Kiran Geroge moves to quarters, Ashmita bows out of Thailand Open
Saina was awarded a cheque of Rs 25 lakhs for her title-winning performance at the Australia Super Series in 2016, besides becoming the first Indian to become the World No. 1 and reaching the finals at All England champion in 2015.
It was a smooth performance from Sindhu as she was hardly tested by the Taiwanese qualifier
Home favourites Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down in a tense final against world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Sang Jae at India Open, settling for their second successive runners-up finish, in New Delhi on Sunday.
The Indian badminton team received enthusiastic support from fellow athletes, including cricketers Washington Sundar, Sai Kishore and Tilak Varma.
Prannoy will take on Rajawat in the second round.
Defending champions India's hopes of entering the Thomas Cup knockout stage as group topper were dashed by a clinical Indonesia who emerged 4-1 winners in their final pool match in Chengdu on Wednesday.
Satwik and Chirag have looked in ominous form, winning the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou, a Super 1000 crown in Indonesia, the Korea Open Super 500 and the Swiss Open super 300 last year before grabbing a a career-best ranking of World No.1, albeit for a brief time.
World No. 15 Sindhu, who will be eyeing her third Olympic medal at the Paris Games in two months time, will face second seed and world no. 7 Wang Zhi Yi of China in the summit clash.
Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri and Gayatri Gopichand also improved two spots to the 17th position.
Tanisha and Ashwini will face the winner of the other semifinal between Taiwanese pair of Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui in the final on Sunday.
Malvika, the only Indian woman left in the singles draw, overcame Karupathevan Letshanaa of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16.
Another triumphant story was written in Indian badminton as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty romped to a stunning comeback win.
Legendary radio personality Ameen Sayani passed into the ages on Tuesday, leaving the entertainment industry in a state of mourning.
Inspired by the peerless P V Sindhu and aspiring to be Indian badminton's aggressive new kid on the block. Tanvi Sharma is nothing like an average 15-year-old.
Thackeray said since the SC directed Narwekar in May last year to take a decision on the pleas seeking disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, the speaker has met the chief minister twice.
Karthikeya Gulshan Kumar produced a thrilling performance
Legislators of the ruling coalition partners in Jharkhand expressed solidarity with the Hemant Soren government on Wednesday and said the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader will continue as the chief minister.
Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday paid floral tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked the metropolis on this day 15 years ago.
Thackeray claimed that the construction of the bridge was completed two weeks ago but it was not opened to the public as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had no time to inaugurate it.
Indian men's team failed to defend its title after going down fighting 1-3 to China
In mixed doubles, K Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto prevailed 21-18, 21-14 over Macau's Leong Iok Chong and Weng Chi NG to make a winning start.
Amid confusion over the continuation of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren as an MLA, Governor Ramesh Bais on Friday went to Delhi, a day after ruling United Progressive Alliance MLAs urged him to clear the air over the EC's recommendation on the matter.
Bornil Aakash Changmai became only the second Indian shuttler to win a gold medal in the Under-15 boys' singles category.
Following open criticism from top players like Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who declared the Indian Badminton League's decision to slash their auction base price as "disrespectful" and "absurd", the Badminton Association of India and the league's organisers have now barred players from talking to the media.
There is no use of the BJP targeting the likes of Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, directly by the party's political bosses, both in Delhi and the respective state capitals, or even using the Raj Bhavans to fire those salvos from. Successive elections have proved that it's counter-productive, if anything. But the BJP is yet to understand it, acknowledge it, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Satwik and Chirag thus stood just one step away from their second Super 1000 title, having won the first one at the Indonesian Open in June last year.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, whose wife Sudesh launched the warship, was the chief guest at the ceremony.
In the women's section, defending champion Unnati Hooda, national champion Anupama Upadhyaya, Ashmita Chaliha, Imad Farooqui Samiya, Tasnim Mir reached the pre-quarterfinals.
'I want to join the association in the administration, may be as an advisor to address the plaguing issues of Indian doubles'
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase on Sunday said the oath taken by nine NCP MLAs as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government does not have official support of the party.
World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn crashed out of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty enjoyed another memorable 'Evening in Paris', lifting the French Open badminton crown for the second time with a dominating straight-game victory over Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the men's doubles final in Paris on Sunday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty cruised into the quarter-finals of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris.
The remarks by Sibal, a noted advocate, came after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said at the function that he would request CM Shinde to rename Ahmednagar city as Ahilyanagar'.
The seventh seeded Indians made good starts but couldn't sustain the pressure in the opening game.
Mother's Day reminded me of how my mom learned to cook Indian food.
There were no signs of 'rigor mortis'. I think they died 1.30-2 hours before they were brought here. Their post-mortem has been conducted, Dr Narendra Sengar told ANI.
In the quarterfinals, Lakshya will face Malaysian qualifier Leong Jun Hao.
