Leading Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their first round matches in contrasting style at the Star Australian Open Superseries in Sydney on Wednesday.
However, it was curtains for former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap after he went down 10-21 19-21 to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
Riding on her stupendous performance at the Australian Open Super Series, Indian ace Saina Nehwal jumped two places to reach the World No. six in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad, who clinched the Australian Open title -- her first of the season - last Sunday, now has 75,369 points in her kitty.
Former World No 1 Srikanth, who has not won a title at the BWF World Tour in the last 22 months, staved off a spirited a challenge from Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, winning 17-21, 21-16, 21-6 in a match that lasted an hour and six minutes to join Praneeth and Prannoy in the second round.
Srikanth fought hard for 55 minutes against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei
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.
Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open in April.
World No.22 Srikanth beat the Japanese qualifier 21-11, 21-19 in a 37-minute clash of the $1,000,000 event.
Kidambi Srikanth, the top-ranking male Indian shuttler who put up an impressive performance in the Badminton Asia Team Championships here, says he aims to achieve a medal in the coming Rio Olympics. "As early as possible, but I am not in a hurry to do that (achieve number one rank in world rankings). It's just that I need to perform consistently. "Then, I will automatically get that. I don't want to become number one (immediately). I want to perform really very well. That's when I can be there (at the top)," the 23-year-old shuttler told PTI. Srikanth, who is currently ranked nine in the world, led the Indian team to semi finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships. He was the only one to win a match in the five-match tie in the semi finals against Indonesia on Saturday. Srikanth remained unbeaten in the tournament. He said he doesn't think much about expectations.
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.
Srikanth fought better in the second, but Yew was too good on the day, to emerge triumphant.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu was the Sportswoman of the Year award in the individual sport category, a statement read.
Top Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy were knocked out of the 18th Asian Games after suffering shock defeats in the second round of the men's singles competition, in Jakarta, on Friday.
Indian ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition of the $ 120,000 German Grand Prix Gold in Mulheim an der Ruhr.
India's two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu romped into the women's singles semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament with an easy victory over Turkey's Neslihan Yigit, in Bali, on Friday.
BAI cancels preparatory camp.
India's top shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth experienced contrasting defeats in the semi-finals of the US $700,000 Malaysia Open Super World Tour 750 tournament, in Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday.
India's Kidambi Srikanth registered a hard-fought victory to enter the semi-finals of the men's singles at the Singapore Super Series, even as P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth lost in straight games.
The World No 6 will next face Spain's Pablo Abian on Wednesday.
Lakshya Sen and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits after suffering narrow losses in their respective opening matches at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will spearhead a strong contingent at the USD 250,000 Swiss Open, beginning on Tuesday, aiming to regain top form.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth have sealed their spots at the prestigious BWF World Superseries Finals for the second successive time.
PV Sindhu had a below-par outing as Japan's Akene Yamaguchi beat the World Championship silver medallist 21-14, 21-9 in a thoroughly one-sided semi-final of the French Open Super Series, in Paris, on Saturday.
India's Kidambi Srikanth clinched the Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship title after overcoming a strong challenge from Viktor Alexson in a hard-fought men's singles final in Basel on Sunday.
Apple CEO Tim Cook enjoyed a game of badminton with Saina Nehwal, Chirag Shetty, Srikanth Kidambi and Parupalli Kashyap.
Having stunned world No. 5 Jan Jorgensen in straight games, Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth said he was well-prepared with his strategy against the Dane that helped him secure a quarter-final spot at the Rio Olympics.
Srikanth had entered the finals of Commonwealth Games last year but he failed to reach the summit clash in any BWF superseries or BWF World Tour tournament since his French Open win in October, 2017.
Lakshya Sen's woeful run continued as he made a first round exit
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up an upset win over the World No 8 and second-seeded Indonesian pair of Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the opening round.
Treesa and Gayatri, seeded fourth, will be the lone Indian challenge left in women's doubles in Basel after Priya Konjengbam-Shruti Mishra and Varshini Viswanath Sri-Arathi Sara Sunil lost their opening-round matches.
As Kidambi Srikanth lost his second round match, India's campaign ended at the Singapore Open.
Saina had pulled out of the opening round of All England Open Championships last week after suffering a thigh injury.
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth notched up his second successive Super Series title with a stunning straight-game triumph over reigning Olympic and world champion Chen Long in the Australian Open summit clash in Sydney on Sunday.
India ace Kidambi Srikanth was rewarded for his sensational run this season as he grabbed a career-best ranking of World No. 2 after jumping two places in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday.
'Since I arrived in Sydney I have gastroenteritis and have had diarrhoea, so I have not been at my best physical condition'
The 26-year-old is now the lone Indian survivor in the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament.
P V Sindhu ended her campaign with a consolation win at the BWF World Tour Finals but Kidambi Srikanth had a disappointing finish
India's campaign at the Sudirman Cup came to an end as they went down to Malaysia in the second Group C match.
Kidambi Srikanth, the centre of attention in the Rio Olympics on Wednesday, can take heart from Hyderabad city mate P V Sindhu for his men's singles quarter-final clash against Chinese badminton icon Lin Dan.
India's Kidambi Srikanth played his heart out before going down fighting against two-time defending champion Lin Dan in the quarterfinals of the men's singles badminton event at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday. The 21-year-old from Guntur, who had beaten the five-time World Champion from China in the 2014 China Open final, suffered a 6-21 21-11 21-18 loss against the World No. 3 Chinese in a nerve-wrecking match that lasted for an hour and four minutes.
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