India will aim to continue their quest for a second title when they face Japan in the quarterfinals of the Thomas Cup Finals. India progressed to the quarterfinals after finishing second in Group A and will face Japan, who, like them, have won the title once.
India's challenge at the Japan Open ended with Sai Praneeth's losing to top seed and home hero Kento Momota in the semi-finals, in Tokyo, on Saturday. The Indian lost 18-21, 12-21 in 45 minutes.
The World No 1 ended his long wait for a title with a 21-17, 21-11 win over Antonsen on Sunday.
A team mate of Japanese badminton Olympic medal hope Kento Momota on Friday confessed to taking the world number two-ranked player to an illegal casino and tearfully begged officials to allow the star to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
World number one Kento Momota was stunned by number 38 South Korea's Heo Kwanghee on Wednesday, going down 15-21, 19-21 and looking visibly despondent at each lost point in his first round match at the Olympics, on Wednesday.
Top Thai shuttler Ratchanok Intanon pocketed her second Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series title with a straight-game victory over Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the women's singles final at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
The accident took place just after Momota had won the Malaysia Masters title.
Indian shuttler Anand Pawar powered his way to the main draw of the men's singles competition with a straight-game victory over German's Dieter Domke in the Denmark Super Series Premier tournament.
The world number 18 Indian will now take on former world champion, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in the second round.
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.
Sindhu battled hard before going down to Akane Yamaguchi 18-21, 15-21.
Sameer Verma advanced to the semi-finals of the US $150,000 Swiss Open with an easy victory over former world No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan, in Basel, on Saturday.
Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma also advanced to the second round of the $550,000 tournament at the Barclaycard Arena.
H S Prannoy stunned World No 10 Kanta Tsuneyama while ace Indian women shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal also sailed into the second round of the Malaysia Masters, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. World Championships bronze-medallist B Sai Praneeth and the seasoned Kidambi Srikanth, though, bowed out of the men's singles events.
Parupalli Kashyap's impressive run at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament came to an end after he lost to World number 1 Kento Momota of Japan in the men's singles semi-finals.
Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth beat compatriot Sameer Verma 22-20, 19-21, 23-21 in an absorbing men's singles quarter-final to enter the semi-finals of the Denmark Open, in Odense, on Friday night. The Indian ace will meet second seeded Japanese and world No 1 Kento Momota, who got the better of Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab 21-13, 21-9 in another quarter-final.
Saina Nehwal scripted a remarkable victory over reigning World Champion Carolina Marin to turn around her campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals even as Srikanth faced exit after suffering his second straight loss in the men's singles in Dubai.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Indian Women's Hockey team leaves for Argentina tour.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign on a positive note, advancing to the second round of the women's singles competition but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth in the men's singles category of the All England championship in London.
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.
While the top names in badminton haven't openly discussed mental health and wellbeing issues in the way that gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka have done of late, Olympic expectations nonetheless weigh heavily on some.
Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy stunned Olympic silver medallists Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia to enter the quarterfinals of the $ 700,000 Japan Open badminton tournament, in Tokyo, Wednesday.
Pusarla Sindhu romped into the final of the World Badminton Championships, trouncing China's Chen Yu Fei 21-7, 21-14 in semi-finals, in Basel, on Saturday.
Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the second round of the China Super Series Premier after straight-game victories in the women's and men's singles respectively, in Shanghai, on Wednesday.
India's women shuttlers assured themselves of a maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships medal by cruising to a 3-0 win over Hong Kong in the quarter-finals.
None of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouth-watering opening round clashes to look forward to.
Parupalli Kashyap continued his impressive run to advance to the semi-finals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament, even as young H S Prannoy was left ruing his luck as a foot injury forced him to concede his quarter-final, on Friday.
Sindhu and Saina will once again be India's best bet as they look to put up a good show this week.
The 33-year-old from Hyderabad, who is the lone Indian left in fray, outsmarted Jorgensen 24-22, 21-8 in 37 minutes
Srikanth showed great determination to outwit Korea's World No 25 Lee Dong Keun 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a second-round clash that clocked an hour and 13 minutes. The Indian had lost twice to the 27-year-old Korean in the past two meetings.
The Olympic silver medallist will now face Korea's An Se Young next.
Jonatan Christie gifted Indonesia the Asian Games gold medal they most yearned for when he beat Taiwan's Chou Tienchen in an exciting men's singles badminton final in front of a vociferous home crowd on Tuesday.
This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued their winning run at the Malaysia Open notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition at the USD 550,000 Super Series Premier tournament.
China and Indonesia won the Badminton Asia Team Championships in the women and men's categories respectively at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Arvind Bhat continued his impressive run to enter the men's singles quarter-finals of the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold after posting a straight-game victory over Daren Liew of Malaysia in Mulheim an der Ruhr.
Srikanth was to play against Momota in the first round on Wednesday but the Japanese world number one pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday
In the men's draw, HS Prannoy, went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
Expectations from the Indian male shuttlers will also be high, given their exploits in recent months.
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