Ecstatic after winning the Canada Open women's doubles title with Jwala Gutta, Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa has said consistency has been the key to their success and this victory is a big boost ahead of the prestigious World Championship in August.
The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shocked reigning World champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan to join P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal in the quarter-finals of the US $750,000 French Open, in Paris, on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap speaks to Harish Kotian/Rediff.com about his recent triumph over world No. 1 Chen Long of China and why he wants the Indian Badminton League to be revived.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
In a bid to keep herself fit for the packed international schedule this year, Indian shuttler P V Sindhu will not be defending her women's singles title at the $120,000 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament to be held at Johor Bahru from March 25-30.
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.
The sports fraternity came out in support of Mahendra Singh Dhoni for wearing the dagger insignia on his wicketkeeping gloves during India's World Cup game against South Africa.
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.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Was it badminton sensation PV Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win the World Championships gold medal? Or is it the young shooting progidy Saurabh Chaudhary? Or his India colleague Elavenil Valarivan, who recently took over as World No 1? What about India's heroes on the cricketing field -- Virat Kohli? Rohit Sharma?
Saina Nehwal and reigning champion Sameer Verma were a step away from clinching the men's and women's singles titles respectively
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes that poured in for Badminton Association of India president Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta, who passed away in Lucknow after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday.
India cricket captain Virat Kohli and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu were on Monday recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna by the awards selection committee.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and young H S Prannoy registered contrasting wins in the men's singles to enter the second round of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt and young B Sai Praneeth advanced to the main draw of Singapore Open Super Series.
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu lost in straight games to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the summit clash of the $ 350,000 Thailand Open World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament, in Bangkok, on Sunday.
P V Sindhu hoped to regain peak fitness before the start of individual events and assured India will return with multiple medals.
Vijender Singh is determined to keep the record with a world title to boot as he enters the new decade donning multiple hats, including the one of an active politician "with strong opinions". The 34-year-old trailblazing boxer, who delivered India's first Olympic and men's world championship medals in boxing back in 2008 and 2009, has logged an enviable 12-0 record in the professional circuit, which he entered in 2015.
Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Besides the duo, 2017 World Weightlifting Champion in the 48kg category, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and former Asian Games gold medallist tennis player Somdev Devvarman were conferred with the Padma Shri award.
Anju, who made her Grand Prix debut at the Peroni Golden Gala meet in Rome last week, touched a distance of 6.54 metres on Saturday night
Sindhu says the path to the Tokyo Olympic gold will be a tough one as now her opponents will look to exploit her weaknesses and she will need to add something new to her game to achieve success.
Sindhu is now the joint highest medal-winner in women's singles in the World Championships history with former Olympic champion Zhang Ning of China, who won an identical 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze between 2001 and 2007.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap reached the second round of Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after scoring easy victories in Lucknow.
Sindhu went down 15-21, 16-21 to the fourth seed
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarter-finals with easy victories, but the highlight of the third day's proceedings in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament was H S Prannoy's thrilling victory over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen.
V K Vismaya stunned her fancied opponents, M R Poovamma and Hima Das, to win the gold medal in the women's 400m race at the Indian Grand Prix-3, in Sangrur, on Saturday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu yet again struggled to go past China's He Bingjiao and bowed out of the China Open World Tour Super 750, in Fozhou, on Friday.
Bajrang Punia's bid to become only the second Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championship fell flat, as a tactically superior Takuto Otoguro stunned the Indian in the 65kg final, in Budapest, on Monday.
Akhil Kumar made a perfect start to his professional career with a technical knock-out of Australia's Ty Gilchrist in the junior welterweight category at the 'Battleground Asia' in Mumbai on Saturday.
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched straight-game victories to progress to the quarter-finals, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the US $700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday.
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 first shuttle is yet to be struck but the discontent with the Indian Badminton League is only rising with men's doubles specialists Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas hinting at a pullout, claiming that their base prices too were slashed without informing them.
Indian shuttler HS Prannoy stunned reigning Olympic champion Lin Dan of China while Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap also crossed the opening hurdle to enter the second round of the USD 275,000 French Open Super Series.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Sports events produce a multitude of highly amusing and crazy celebrations. Individual and team players have various way of celebrating victory, a goal or point. Some do it with a high-five, blow a kiss, cartwheel or dance. And on the soccer field, it's a soccer ball baby!
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances