H S Prannoy lost in the opening round even as compatriots Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round of the $ 350,000 India Open Super 500 tournament, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram continued their good run and reached the quarterfinals of the season-opening Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Sarawak on Thursday.
The top-seeded Indian pair lost in straight games against Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in Birmingham on Thursday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is currently in a tight spot in her bid for a Tokyo Olympics singles berth but a couple of good performances in the coming weeks can put her back in contention, her mentor Parupalli Kashyap said on Friday. Saina, a 2015 World Championship silver medallist and two-time Commonwealth Games champion, is racing against time to make the cut for her fourth successive Olympics.
If Saina manages to go past Okuhara, the Indian might run into fourth seed Carolina Marin, who is placed in her half of the draw.
Saina had pulled out of the opening round of All England Open Championships last week after suffering a thigh injury.
Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women's singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes
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.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
India's Gaganjeet Bhullar was in his element as he carded 16-under-268 for the week to lift his fifth Asian Tour title with victory at the Indonesia Open, in Jakarta on Sunday.
BWF said that Finland will host the Sudirman Cup Finals in September-October while the season-ending World Tour Finals will be staged in Indonesia.
Ace Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, had a disappointing start to their campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals as they suffered straight-game defeats on the opening day of the prestigious event in Dubai.
The world number nine will play Hong Kong's fifth seed Angus Ng Ka Long in the last eight stage.
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad will begin her campaign against China's Li Xuerui, a former Olympic gold medallist and World No 1.
The Indonesian had defeated Sindhu twice in the last three meetings this year, including one at the Madrid Spain Masters final, though the Indian came into the match with an overall 8-2 head-to-head record.
H S Prannoy has revealed that he has been battling a chronic gastrointestinal disorder for the past four months
Star India shuttler P V Sindhu made an exit from Thailand Open after going down in straight games to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in the semi-finals in Bangkok on Saturday.
Satwik and Chirag have looked in ominous form, winning the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou, a Super 1000 crown in Indonesia, the Korea Open Super 500 and the Swiss Open super 300 last year before grabbing a a career-best ranking of World No.1, albeit for a brief time.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
India's number one singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat Jay Clarke of Great Britain in straight sets to enter the main draw of the Miami Open, on Wednesday.
India's top shuttler P V Sindhu is targetting peak form during the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year to ensure that she clinches the two titles missing from her cabinet.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
Maidaan draws out more yawns than yays, observes Sukanya Verma.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Defending champion Saina Nehwal is just one step away from retaining her women's singles title of the $ 120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament.
The core of the team remains the same with HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in good form and the Indian team would hope the rub of the green also goes their way when it begins campaign on Thursday.
Former World No 1 Saina Nehwal stayed on course for the women's singles title at the season-opening Malaysia Masters after she advanced to the semi-finals of the $US 120,000 Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Fresh from their Korea Open triumph, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their dream run.
Saina Nehwal went down fighting against former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the quarter-finals to draw curtains on India's campaign at the Korea Open World Tour Super 500 tournament, on Seoul, on Friday.
Top Indian shuttlers, PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the women's singles quarter-finals and men's singles pre-quarterfinals, respectively, of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Kuching.
But the Indian mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan suffered a close 18-21, 21-10, 22-24, loss to Russian pair of Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova, while another pair of Tarun Kona and Sikki N Reddy too went down 13-21, 17-21 against Liao Min Chun and Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei.
In the quarterfinals, Lakshya will face Malaysian qualifier Leong Jun Hao.
India's P V Sindhu finished second best at the World Tour Badminton Finals after going down tamely to Korean teen sensation An Seyoung in the women's singles final, in Bali, on Sunday. The reigning World champion and two-time Olympic medallist was unable to match the pace nor breach the defence of the world No. 6 and was beaten 16-21, 12-21 in the 40 minutes.
Young Indian shuttler H S Prannoy entered his second successive final after beating Malaysia's Daren Liew in the men's singles event at the $1,25,000 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold.
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.
Nargis Fakhri is holidaying in Italy... Ananya gets into a bikini... Sunny prmotes his film...
Vroom! Indonesia president a hit on social media after motorbike stunt
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.
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.
'When it was confirmed that I would do the song, Manishaji walked up to me and asked, "Please Vijayshree, tell me how are you planning to do the song. Give me a rough idea so that I am mentally prepared".'
