It is the surprise element of the unheralded shutters, who could pose a bigger threat to his medal aspirations at next month's Commonwealth Games.
World and Olympic badminton champion Lin Dan added a first Super Series Finals title to his trophy haul on Sunday with a 21-12, 21-16 success over Chinese compatriot Chen Long.
It was curtains for India in the Indian Open Super Series after young shuttlers Sourabh Verma and RMV Gurusai Datt suffered straight-game defeats in the quarter-finals of the men's singles at the Siri Fort Complex on Friday.
India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal was not part of the action but Awadhe Warriors still proved to be good enough for Hyderabad Hunters, as they eked out a 4-3 win in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in Hyderabad on Saturday night.
Seventh seed Chetan beat Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 21-15, 21-15 in 30 minutes, while 10th seed Arvind went past another Dane, eight seeded Jan O Jorgensen, 21-13, 22-20 in 33 minutes.
Seven Indian shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar, sailed into the pre-quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open even as world No 1 Lee Chong Wei crashed out of the tournament in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Women's second-seed Saina thrashed Chew Yen Daphne Ng 21-6, 21-10 in 21 minutes to set up a clash with Hung Yung Chan of Hong Kong in the second round.
Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat tumbled out of the Malaysian Open Super Series after losing 21-18 21-16 to Indonesian compatriot Simon Santoso in the second round on Thursday.
World number one Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei will be the main attractions at the USD 150,000 Yonex Sunrise India Open.
The Bangalore lad shocked world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan in a quarter-final match at the Yonex-Sunrise Asian Badminton Championship.
The Indian ace lost to top seed Lee Chong Wei in the third round at the Asian Badminton Championships.
Third seed Sindhu beat Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri while Srikanth accounted for China's Huang Yuxiang.
Carolina Marin of Spain beat Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 18-21, 22-20 to win the Hong Kong Open.
Three-time champion Lee Chong Wei was sensationally beaten by India's B Sai Praneeth in the first round of the All-England Championships on Wednesday, putting a firm dent into his preparations ahead of the Rio Olympics . The Malaysian second seed was beaten 24-22 22-20, which ended a promising few months where he had won his last four events. "I can't believe I lost in the first round," Lee told reporters. "I had pressure to win but I made mistakes and I'm shocked at how well he played. "This is a real learning curve for me." Lee, the former world number one, was playing his first All-England since 2014 following his eight-month drug suspension ended last year. Praneeth, however, clawed his way back from 11-3 and 15-7 deficits in the first game to take control of the match and hailed the win as his best result. "It is a big shock for me too and after the last rally I cannot believe that I won," said Praneeth, who set up a last 16 clash with Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.
India's highest ranked male shutter, Kidambi Srikanth, pulled off an upset victory over former world No 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, but his team Bengaluru Hot Guns went down 2-3 to Hyderabad Hunters in the Premier Badminton League clash in Mumbai on Sunday.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a straight-game win over Japan's Kazumasa Sakai but his compatriots Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt failed to cross the first hurdle in the French Super Series.
India's shuttlers made it to the mixed team semi-finals after a resounding 3-0 victory over Mauritus at the Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Saturday.
Taking the Indian challenge forward, P V Sindhu progressed to the women's singles quarter-finals after a tough win over Yu Po Pai in the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday. Sindhu overcame the challenge of the Taipei shuttler 21- 16 21-16 in the second round. However, B Sai Parineeth, who had eked out a memorable win over legendary Lee Chong Wei at the All England championship, made an exit from the event after losing 19-21 6-21 to second seed Tien Chen Chou from Taipei in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.
India shuttler Kidambi Srikanth believes the days of domination of Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei are over and the tournaments are more wide open than ever.
India's men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth alongwith two other doubles pairs advanced to the semi-finals of the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
It is the second semifinal appearance for world number 23 Prannoy at the Indonesia event.
Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered a narrow loss against Sayaka Sato of Japan in the women's singles to draw curtains on India's campaign at the Denmark Super Series in Odense, on Thursday.
Italy's renowned World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero has called the Indian Super League football tournament an 'adventure' and said he was 'enthusiastic' about embarking on this new journey.
India made a resounding start to their campaign at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold with four Indian shuttlers advancing to the second round of the men's singles competition, in Basel, on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated shuttler Kidambi Srikanth after he clinched his second Super Series Premier title by lifting the Indonesia Open men's singles trophy in Jakarta.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton.
Praneeth said he needs to work on his fitness to trouble big players such as two-time world champion Kento Momota.
Young Indian shuttlers K Srikanth and H S Prannoy advanced to the quarter-finals of men's singles at the Japan Open, but it was curtains for teen sensation P V Sindhu in the US $200,000 Super Series event, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Sindhu had attained her career-best world number two ranking after clinching her maiden India Open Super Series title.
Rising Indian midfielder Manpreet Singh was named the 'Junior Player of the Year' by the Asian Hockey Federation in its Congress held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Indian shuttlers had a relatively good day in office at the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday, with the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa and the men's team of Manu Attri-B Sumeeth Reddy progressing to the second round.
Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy advanced to the second round of the men's singles competition at the US$ 1,000,000 Indonesia Super Series Premier in Jakarta, on Wednesday.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, on Sunday, said his ward B Sai Praneeth needs to be consistent and hoped the win at Singapore Open will take his game to another level.
Awadhe Warriors brother-sister pair of Markis Kido and Pia Bernadeth held their nerves in a close encounter to win the crucial fifth match and the tie 3-2 against Mumbai Masters in the second semi-final to set up the summit clash with Hyderabad Hotshots in the Indian Badminton League on Thursday.
Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty claimed India's first ever medal in men's doubles after settling for a silver at the 21st Commonwealth Games' badminton competition, in Gold Coast, on Sunday.
The fixtures of the inaugural edition of the Indian Badminton League which kicks-off on August 14.
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.
14-year-old squash sensation Anahat Singh, among the youngest to represent India at the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games, hopes to bump into her role model P V Sindhu over the course of her stay in Birmingham.
P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to enter the quarter-finals of the US $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Penang, on Thursday.
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.
Saina Nehwal guided the Indian women's team to a crushing 5-0 win over Canada to launch their Uber Cup campaign in style but their men's counterpart came a cropper against former champions Malaysia as they suffered a crushing 1-4 defeat in Thomas Cup in New Delhi.
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