Saina Nehwal will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold, beginning in Johar Bahru on Wednesday. The second seed faces world No 39 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand in her opening match in the women's singles.
The Briton will be toiling flat out on May Day, the international workers' holiday, to deny his German rival a seventh successive win and fourth of the sport's longest ever season.
Lewis Hamilton has had more success in Shanghai than any other Formula One driver, which makes Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix the ideal location for the triple world champion to end Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's winning streak. While Rosberg has started the season with a perfect 50 points from two races, and a run of five successive victories dating back to last November, Hamilton is ready to turn the tables. The Briton has won four times in Shanghai and is on for three in a row after last season becoming the only driver to win the race in successive years. "It's not been a smooth start to the season for me, so to be in the championship position I'm in right now is actually pretty positive," said Hamilton, who lies second in the standings after a second and a third place. "Now we go to China for the next battle. It's a track that's been good to me over the years... so hopefully this race can be the turning point." Hamilton has not won since he took his third world championship in Austin, Texas, last October but the 31-year-old has started both races this season on pole position.
Defending champion H S Prannoy eked out a thrilling win over China's Qiao Bin to advance to the quarterfinals of the $120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday.
Ace shuttlers Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat reached the pre-quarter-finals of men's singles at the Macau Open Grand Prix in China on Wednesday after contrasting victories even though it was curtains for four other Indians.
The Indian ace fought back after losing the first game to beat Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand 18-21, 21-12, 21-18 at the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
P V Sindhu progressed to the final of the women's singles event at the US$600,000 Korea Open Super Series, at the SK Handball Stadium in Seoul on Saturday.
As a successful but physically draining year draws to a close, one half of Indian badminton's most formidable mixed doubles pair, Jwala Gutta, is now aiming for a Super Series title in the new season to ensure a good build-up to the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi next year.
After the high of last week's Chinese Taipei Open triumph, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal hit a low as she crashed out of the Japan Super series Badminton tournament with a straight-game defeat in the first round in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram disposed off Netherland's Mark Caljouw in straight games to advance to the pre-quarterfinals but it was curtains for Sameer Verma and Rituparna Das at the World Championship in Glasgow.
Indian woman shuttler Saina Nehwal on Thursday sailed into the quarterfinal of the ongoing Yonex Chinese Taipei Open Badminton, beating Hong Kong's Kwan Yi Mong 21-8, 21-12.
Back on the court after a month, Saina Nehwal will battle it out against a tough field while the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju will aim for a second title at the Japan Open Super Series.
Force India's Adrian Sutil recorded his best qualifying performance of the season by capturing the 10th place on the grid while teammate Paul di Resta will start Sunday's European Grand Prix at the 12th spot.
Triple jumper Mayookha Johny on Sunday became the first Indian woman to breach 14m mark while creating a new national record en-route to winning bronze in the third and final leg of the Asian Athletics Grand Prix in Wujiang, China.
Saina Nehwal's dream of pocketing back-to-back titles were dashed by Chinese qualifier Xin Wang, who beat her in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Johor Bahru on Friday. The Indian second seed cut a sorry figure as Wang took just 26 minutes to score a 21-14, 21-10 victory.
Saina Nehwal's semi-final jinx continued as she suffered another defeat against her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women's singles at the Malaysia Super Series Premier, in Shah Alam, on Saturday.
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy won the first edition of the I S Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess tournament, defeating Marie Sebag of France in a nail-biting finale. She finished the tournament with a commendable 8.5 points out of a possible 11.
Top seeded Grandmaster Koneru tried her best but could not breach Zhao Xue's defence and drew a tense game to remain joint third after the ninth round of the IS Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess event in Istanbul.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa could hold the key to the Formula One championship in his home Brazilian Grand Prix on October 21, despite being out of the reckoning himself.
Saina Nehwal's semi-final outing in the China Masters Super Series turned out to be a lopsided affair as the ace Indian shuttler crashed out of the event after suffering a straight-game defeat at hands of her new nemesis Zhou Mi in Changzhou on Saturday.
Manjeet Kaur hopes the 4x400m relay team will be able to better their performance at the Athens Olympics four years ago.
The Indian set his two fastest laps of the weekend on his third and fourth laps at the Chinese A1 Grand Prix in Shanghai on Saturday.
Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy registered fighting victories in the last eight contests at the $120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Basel on Friday.
India's Chetan Anand downed Yu Chen of China in straight games to storm into the men's semifinals of the Yonex Sunrise India Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Hyderabad on Friday.
India's star women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashiwini Ponnappa also made the last eight stage, but it was curtains for the men's doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar.
P V Sindhu cemented her position as a dominant force on the world stage with an Olympic silver medal while Saina Nehwal continued to battle with injuries in a year, which saw Indian badminton take giant strides at the global platform. It turned out to be a watershed year for Sindhu, who reached the upper echelons of world badminton with a silver medal at Rio Games -- an achievement also for her mentor and chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who became the only Indian coach to produce two Olympic medallists. On the other hand, for the first part of the year, it was Saina's battle with injuries which dominated the headlines even though she was considered to be the best bet for India at Rio. The Indian ace fought against time to recover from an Achilles tendons and went on to win the Australian Super Series.
The 2019 Formula One world championship starts on March 17 with 21 races in a season that ends later than any since 1963.
The Indian ace was given the honour after Carlin's top driver Alan van der Merwe opted out.
PV Sindhu is keen to work harder on various aspects of her game and put up better performances against top players in the coming year.
The Shanghai weather all but wiped out the first two practice sessions for the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Friday with poor visibility in the city forcing the grounding of the medical support helicopter.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram failed to notched up his third straight title in the Dutch Open badminton tournament as he went down fighting in the summit clash, in Almere, Netherlands, on Sunday.
Saina Nehwal once again faltered at the semi-final stage as she suffered a straight game defeat at the hands of China's Wang Yihan in the women's singles at the Asia Badminton Championships, in Wuhan, China, on Saturday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that the government will keep in close touch with all relevant groups to ensure a virus outbreak does not have affect the Summer Olympics. Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto said organisers are not considering cancelling the Olympics, which start on July 24.
Three Indians, including P V Sindhu, advanced to the pre-quarter-finals in the US $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in the men's singles, on Wednesday.
India's woman Grandmaster Koneru Humpy said there wasn't enough encouragement for women to take up chess in the country.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel let rip with a blast of swear words after two first lap collisions with Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat dumped him out of the Russian's home race on Sunday.
Sole supplier Pirelli has warned that it could walk away from Formula One after the current season if the sport fails to ratify tyre testing plans by close of play on Monday.
List of international sports events affected by the coronavirus that has killed over 900 people and infected more than 40,000 in China
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