Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, and Tharun Mannepalli progressed to the second round of the men's singles competition at the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament after registering fine wins on Wednesday.
Former World No. 1 India's Kidambi Srikanth bows out of US Open badminton tournament
India's lack of bench strength was exposed as they suffered a crushing 1-4 defeat against Denmark in their opening Group D match at the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarter-finals, while H S Prannoy's valiant fight ended in a narrow second round loss at the Malaysia Super 1000 badminton tournament.
On Friday, Supanida Katethong came out on top against Indian star PV Sindhu in an intense quarter-final battle in which the Thai shuttler emerged 24-26, 21-17, 22-20 winner in one hour and 17 minutes.
Earlier in the day, the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanshia Crasto squandered an early lead to go down 21-18, 15-21, 19-21 against Malaysia's Pang Ron Hoo and Su Yin Cheng in the second round.
Satwik-Chirag had lost each of the two semifinals in straight sets and their aim would be to go the distance in the upcoming tournament.
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.
Malvika, the only Indian woman left in the singles draw, overcame Karupathevan Letshanaa of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16.
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The duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy entered the mixed doubles second round but the other Indian shuttlers, including Priyanshu Rajawat, made early exits
Down 0-2, the Indians showed great fighting spirit as the doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty and PV Sindhu levelled the scores after reverses in the first two matches.
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth secured straight game wins
PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen moved a step closer to clinching the women's and men's singles title respectively
Sen won his second round contest 21-17, 21-10, taking 72 minutes to complete the formality.
The selectors had also proposed to pick one pair each for men's and women's doubles and two mixed doubles combinations through a round-robin tournament format to decide the final standings.
Satwik and Chirag jumped one spot in the latest BWF rankings to regain the fifth place.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu stormed into the women's singles second round at the Swiss Open with a straight-game win over Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt in Basel.
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.
The 21-year-old Sen, who won a bronze in the 2021 World Championships, has been in brilliant form, starting the year with a gold medal at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open before finishing runner-up, at the prestigious All England Open Championships and also at the German Open.
Defending champions India sailed to the knockout stage of the Thomas Cup with a 5-0 rout of England.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, on the other hand, moved one place to 31st.
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.
HS Prannoy, who occupies the 8th spot, is the best ranked Indian in the men's singles while Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth are placed 19th and 20th respectively.
Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat stunned top seed Kenta Nishimoto to enter the quarterfinals of the Orleans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament.
It's a demoralising loss for especially considering Japan did not field their full-strength team, with several top players absent.
P V Sindhu survived a scare before beating unheralded compatriot Ira Sharma in three games to enter the women's singles quarter-finals at the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament.
As Kidambi Srikanth lost his second round match, India's campaign ended at the Singapore Open.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal made another first-round exit, losing 15-21, 8-21 to Thailand's fourth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women's singles event.
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India's double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu cruised into the quarterfinals of the French Open badminton tournament with a straight-game win over Line Christophersen of Denmark in the women's singles second round in Paris. Sindhu, seeded third, prevailed 21-19, 21-9 over Christophersen, ranked 24th in the world, in 37 minutes late Thursday night.
In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila advanced to the second round with a 8-21, 21-19, 21-17 victory over Chinese Taipei's Chen Cheng Kuan and Hsu Yin-Hui.
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu is set to lead India's charge at the upcoming Sudirman Cup.
P V Sindhu and Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the women's singles second round at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
The 2021 All England Open will be the second tournament this year to offer ranking points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, after the Swiss Open.
Tan Kim Her's voice was tinged with emotion as he reflected on the journey of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the two men he paired and who fondly call him "Daddy".
PV Sindhu cruised into the women's singles final with a dominating straight-game win over fellow Indian Unnati Hooda in the semis.
It was a smooth performance from Sindhu as she was hardly tested by the Taiwanese qualifier
A former world no. 2, Sindhu has regained her place in the top 5 after three years. The former world champion from Hyderabad resumed her training on Monday after recovering from the injury.
Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy has pulled out of the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament due to a back injury that troubled him during his maiden bronze medal-winning run at the recently-concluded Asian Games.
