HS Prannoy made an early exit from the Korea Open Super 500 tournament
Play was briefly interrupted during the women's doubles semifinal of the ongoing India Open Super 750 tournament on Saturday after some "particles from the bird's nest" fell on the court.
yush Shetty and former World championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen advanced in the Australian Open in contrasting fashion to set up an all-Indian quarterfinal clash.
The world number 18 Indian will now take on former world champion, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in the second round.
Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the men's doubles second round with a tough straight-game win over Chinese Taipei's Chang Ko-Chi and Po Li-Wei at the Australian Open Super 500 tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu marched into the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel.
The tie was already inconsequential for HS Prannoy as he had lost his earlier two Group A matches.
Olympic medallist P V Sindhu is also missing in action as she recovers from an injury.
Earlier, former world No.1 Srikanth had to dig deep to outlast fellow Indian Tharun Mannepalli 15-21, 21-6, 21-19.
Ravaged but resolute H S Prannoy focussed on increasing speed ahead of Paris Olympics
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.
Prannoy is only seeded Indian player at No. 7 in the men's singles draw of 32 as he will begin his campaign against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, against whom the Indian has a 4-1 win-loss record.
Sindhu, Lakshya to head India's campaign at Asian C'ships
Focus on nutrition, tailor-made training for specific opponents key to Prannoy's success.
Tanvi Sharma stuns Okuhara, Manraj Singh oust Prannoy to make quarters.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag won 21-17, 21-11.
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.
The CM expressed hope that budding athletes and sportspersons in the state can take inspiration from his achievement and adopt the same attitude of hard work and dedication shown by the Indian shuttler.
'Until April 2024, we have the qualification period so until that we might push for more tournaments but the plan is to pick and choose after you qualify and then gradually peaking before the Olympics.'
In the men's doubles however, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to 11th seeded Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 11-21, 16-21 in a second round match that lasted 41 minutes.
Prannoy will take on Rajawat in the second round.
Fellow Indian Kidambi Srikanth also jumped two places to sit at the 12th spot, while Lakshya Sen continued to be the best-placed Indian male shuttler at world number 9.
This was their third semifinal appearance on the BWF Tour this season, having earlier reached the last four at the Singapore Open and India Open.
P V Sindhu has made early exits in as many as seven of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year.
The Indian combination of Satwik and Chirag will play the Chinese pair of Xie Hao Nan and Zeng Wei Han in the next round.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy have been handed relatively easy groups for the Paris Games, which begin on July 26.
Top seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia ended the impressive run of Indian shuttler HS Prannoy in the Vietnam Open Grand Prix final in Ho Chi Minh City.
HS Prannoy breezed into the quarter-finals with a stunning straight-game win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the Japan Open Super 750 tournament.
HS Prannoy climbed up two spots to achieve a career-best world number seven
Shetty had earlier shocked former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games in his opening round.
In mixed doubles, the husband-wife Indian pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy defeated Malaysia's Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-19.
However, it was curtains for Kiran George in the men's singles event as he lost 20-22, 6-21 against seventh seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
HS Prannoy said continuous experimentation has been the key to his "special" season as he reached his second final of the year at the Australian Open Super 500 tournament in Sydney.
The left-handed Chinese put a lot of power in his smashes and his hold-and-flick shots also caught Prannoy off guard as he entered the first interval lagging 6-11 after two unforced errors.
The world number nine will play Hong Kong's fifth seed Angus Ng Ka Long in the last eight stage.
Prannoy reached the World Championships on previous two occassions.
Prannoy looked in good touch as he reeled off five points on the trot to zoom to a comfortable 11-4 lead. However, the Indian was guilty of missing the lines twice and also found the net, allowing Wang to cut the deficit to three points at 11-14.
However, the tournament was over for fourth seed Sameer Verma after he retired hurt against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.
Two-time Olympics medallist P V Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and the star pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty form the core of India's squad for the Badminton Asia Team Championships, in Qingdao, China, from February 3-8.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances