Star shuttler Jwala Gutta once again asked the Badminton Association of India to stop the "step-motherly treatment" towards its doubles players, saying its high time the federation changes its attitude. "I've won medals at the highest level but you're still not capitalising on the achievement. The doubles are still being given a step-motherly treatment. You need to change your attitude," a concerned Jwala told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of the 12th South Asian Games here. "After Ashwini and I, there is nobody and that is the plain truth. It's the doubles, I'm more worried about," a three-time medalist in the Commonwealth Games 2006, 2010 and 2014 lamented. "If we want to compete with China, we have to encourage all the events. We can't just bank on singles all the time. Doubles is taken seriously everywhere except India," the ace shuttler said.
Former India badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday blamed the withdrawals by Asian nations for the postponement of the Thomas and Uber Cup Final, calling it a "big setback" for the sport.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal snapped her 15-month title drought, clinching the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton crown with a straight-game victory over compatriot P V Sindhu in the women's singles competition in Lucknow on Sunday.
The Attri and Reddy duo made light-weight of their opponent
Two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, India's P V Sindhu made a rousing start to the new season as she clinched the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold title after defeating Scotland's Kristy Gilmour in straight games in the final, in Penang, on Sunday.
After a year's delay due to COVID-19, the 19th Asian Games officially opens in Hangzhou on Saturday with hosts China eager to lift a country mired in economic gloom.
Olympic champion, Spain's Carolina Marin turned out to be the costliest buy of the second edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), while Kidambi Srikanth fetched the highest amount by an Indian at the players' auction, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu entered the second round easily but it was Anand Pawar and K Srikanth who created a flutter at the Japan Open as they notched up stunning victories over their higher-ranked opponents in the men's singles competition in Tokyo.
A look at the few bright spots, the many worries, and moments that made for a distinctly indelible 2020.
Two-time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei suffered his second successive loss in a crucial Trump match at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) as Delhi Acers notched up a thrilling 4-1 win over Hyderabad Hunters at the Siri Fort Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday.
The money-spinning Indian Premier League has mulled a closed-door edition in a desperate bid to avoid cancellation as the deadly COVID-19 sent Indian sports into quarantine after a government directive for fans to be kept away from all action to prevent the pandemic from spreading.
Aparna Popat and Trupti Murgunde won their singles matches but could not prevent a 2-3 defeat in the Uber Cup.
R Praggnanandhaa was far from realising the enormity of his achievement in the FIDE World Cup but reckoned his incredible run could force people to "start noticing" Indian chess.
A resurgent Saina Nehwal and fast rising PV Sindhu, country's best women shuttlers, set up a summit clash against each other at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament in Lucknow.
Using a sledgehammer to fix some ills can cut down a game at its peak, warns Shekhar Gupta.
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?
India upset Hong Kong 4-1 in the league encounter of the Uber Cup (preliminaries) Asia Zone badminton tournament.
They beat the United States 4-1 in the Sudirman Cup.
Olympic silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu admitted that there is more responsibility on her shoulders post the Rio Games as everyone now wants her to achieve more laurels for the country. Sindhu, who was here to receive Rs 30 lakhs from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as prize money for winning silver in Rio Olympics, said she is focused on keeping things simple despite the responsibility. "Definitely there is more responsibility and everybody's eyes are on me to achieve more. That is there but I said to myself I should not take too much pressure. My aim is to keep playing well. After the Olympics, I have won a Superseries and I have done well," the lanky Hyderabadi shuttler said.
Some stellar performances by seasoned veterans and promising youngsters continued to raise the bar in Olympic sports but there was heartbreak in equal measure when corruption scandals blighted India's favourite obsession, cricket, in a see-saw year for the country's sportspersons.
Indian men went down to South Korea 0-5 in their last league encounter to finish second in Group 'A' of the Thomas Cup preliminaries.
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They beat Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 in a preliminary league match of the badminton competition.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday.
PV Sindhu fought back in the 2nd game to down compatriot Saina Nehwal 21-16, 22-20 and book a berth in the Yonex-Sunrise India Super Series badminton tournament at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Friday.
India's P V Sindhu hopes no one will ever question her ability to win big titles, relieved at breaking the finals jinx with a historic triumph at the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
A keen contest is on the cards when world's top woman shuttler Carolina Marin crosses swords with India's PV Sindhu in the inaugural match of Premier Badminton League between Hyderabad Hunters and Chennai Smashers on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
It was a mixed outing for super rich candidates as five of them emerged victorious and an equal number suffered defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men's singles quarter-finals that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
Having slumped in the rankings, champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap tells Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com how he plans to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 6,000 lives and infected close to 160,000 people worldwide, has led to the cancellation or postponement of all sporting events across the globe. ports Minister Kiren Rijiju urged the athletes to not lose spirit and keep working hard to stay battle ready for competitions.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
The Indian badminton team sealed a place in the knockout stage of the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship, despite Indonesia pulling off a stunning 3-2 victory over Denmark in the last match of the Group 1D in Gold Coast, Australia, on Wednesday.
In other India-related news, Manish Kaurav (KL3 men 200m) and Manjeet Singh (VL2 men 200m) made it to the finals of their respective events for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Check out India's report card on the sixth day of the 2016 Olympics.
Take a look at what fit-again Saina needs to do before going into the Olympic Games in August this year.
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