'You can't just have one single player who is individually doing well and be able to win the World Championship or the Olympics.' 'In the Thomas Cup, you need a group of players performing at the same time at their highest level.' 'So that shows how difficult it is, and what a great achievement that is for a country like India to be able to win it.'
Indian men's team failed to defend its title after going down fighting 1-3 to China
India's men's badminton lifted the Thomas Cup title with a commanding 3-0 win over powerhouse Indonesia
Indian women's badminton star Saina Nehwal crashed out of the women's singles competition in the first round after a loss to China's Zhang Yiman. She lost the match 17-21, 21-19,11-21. After being a game down, Nehwal made a comeback in the second game but lost the final one.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is returning from an ankle injury, begins her campaign against former World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the first round of Malaysia Open.
'We haven't finished the tournament and we want to go all the way'
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Lakshya Sen outsmarted reigning World champion Loh Kean Yew as India displayed its might to blank Singapore 3-0 and enter the mixed team badminton final at the Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham, on Monday.
With the main draw of the Asian Badminton Championships set to get underway from Wednesday, the struggling Indian shuttlers face an uphill task.
P V Sindhu will be eager to return to the podium as former winner Saina Nehwal looks to regain her touch
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
The unseeded Indian duo had to toil hard for 58 minutes to win its round of 16 clash
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
The Indian men's team is searching for its maiden medal at the tournament. No Indian men's team has ever reached the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup.
India will be sending full teams for the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold (May 30-June 4), Indonesia Open Super Series (June 12-18) and Australian Open Super Series (June 20-25).
India's final tally in Hangzhou stood at 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze, a quantum leap from the 70 medals the contingent bagged at Jakarta in 2018.
Sindhu dished out a compact game to outwit Sayaka 21-17, 21-16 in a second round match on Thursday to set up a clash with seventh seeded Chinese He Bingjiao.
India's women shuttlers assured themselves of a maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships medal by cruising to a 3-0 win over Hong Kong in the quarter-finals.
Satwiksairaj and Ashwini showed top-notch fighting spirit before going down
Indian badminton star Pusarla V Sindhu won badminton's women's bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, beating China's He Bing Jao 21-13, 21-15 in third-place play-off on Sunday.
World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn crashed out of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament
Check out the complete schedule of Indian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics
The celebration of this historic feat was not yet over when Indian shuttlers scripted yet another jaw-dropping show in Birmingham, returning with six medals, including three golds, a silver and two bronze medals in August.
It was a mixed day for India in the All England Championship as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichanda clinched a stunning win, while Lakshya Sen crashed out.
Saina will next face either Thailand's fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon or Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, while Sindhu will take on the winner of the match between Sri Lanka's Kavidi Sirimannage and Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol.
India's double Olympics medallist P V Sindhu continued her impressive run at the French Open badminton tournament, sailing into the women's singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, in Paris, on Friday. Sindhu, seeded third, scripted a convincing 21-14, 21-14 win over eighth seeded in 38 minutes to extend her head-to-head record against the Thai to 14-1.
India thus finished a fantastic badminton campaign with three gold, one silver and two bronze.
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.
Sindhu suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei
Thomas Cup final: India vs Indonesia
Two-time Olympics medallist P V Sindhu opted out citing post-Olympics recovery.
Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy said the mentality of not giving up without a fight kept him motivated during the epic victory over Denmark in the Thomas Cup semi-finals on Friday.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will meet compatriot HS Prannoy in his opening match, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will square off against a qualifier.
Coach Vimal Kumar compared this triumph to India's 1983 Cricket World Cup win, hoping it will spur the popularity of badminton.
If Sindhu and Saina win their respective second round matches, they will face each other in the quarter-finals.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu's gallant fight ended in agony as India made a dismal start to their Sudirman Cup campaign, going down to the formidable Chinese Taipei in the opening round in Suzhou on Sunday.
With the coronavirus pandemic halting all sport activities, India's former chief badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday urged the government to allow the Olympic-bound athletes to continue their training after conducting the required tests. Following the respective directives of the Talengana and Karnataka governments, the Pullela Gopichand academy in Hyderbad and Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore have been shut down for two weeks.
The Birmingham showpiece will be held from July 28 to August 8.
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