The Chirag-Satwik pair won the Thailand Open in May to reclaim the No.1 ranking but suffered loss of form and made a first-round exit from the Singapore Open last month.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his fine form to enter the men's singles semi-finals but Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu bowed out of the Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney, on Friday.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will meet compatriot HS Prannoy in his opening match, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will square off against a qualifier.
Srikanth made an attacking start after the change of ends, putting his smashes to good use, to lead 5-1. Two tight smashes on either side helped the Indian to maintain his lead to 8-3 before he entered the break with a healthy seven-point advantage when Axelsen went to the net.
The 25-year-old Indian, who clinched the Indonesia Open and Australian Open this year, besides reaching the final of the Singapore Open, defeated Wong 21-18, 21-17 at the Odense Sports Park.
Saina Nehwal remained static at second position while Kidambi Srikanth dropped a place to be at ninth spot in the world badminton rankings released on Thursday.
From a laidback boy with poor dietary habits, Kidambi Srikanth has become an attacking player who can quickly deploy his considerable skills against tough opponents, writes Anand Datla
The Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, one of badminton's last two Olympic qualifying events, was on Friday postponed due to a recent COVID-19 surge in the host country, dealing a severe blow to the Tokyo hopes of Indian stars like Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.
Chirag said "it is difficult to stay motivated" in such uncertain times.
Indian Mithun Manjunath stunned fourth seed and world number seven Kean Yew Loh of Singapore in the opening round while PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth secured straight-game wins.
The sixth seed and world No. 6 Indian needed 42 minutes to get the better of Beiwin Zhang of the United States, ranked eight places below her, 21-14, 21-17.
Young shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to win the women's and men's singles titles respectively at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships in Delhi on Monday.
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was pushed to the brink of exit after he suffered his second consecuitve loss in the BWF Super Series Finals, losing in straight games to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles in Dubai.
Lakshya Sen and Saina Nehwal made impressive starts at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament, advancing to the second round of men's and women's singles respectively with contrasting victories in Jakarta on Wednesday.
India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy reached the second round but it was curtains for men's singles shuttlers at the Singapore Super Series, on Wednesday.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals but a heartbreak was in store for P V Sindhu, who suffered a shock defeat to Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Thursday.
Newly-crowned India Open champions Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth continued their rampaging international run, notching contrasting victories to enter the second round of the US $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday.
With this victory, Axelsen enjoys a 3-2 head-to-head lead over Srikanth in five meetings, having won the last three duels.
On the eighth day of CWG 2018, the 22-year-old from Hyderabad made everything look so easy as she clinched a comfortable 21-15, 21-9 win over Wendy Chen in a one-sided last-16 clash of the women's singles event that lasted 34 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena.
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth continued their impressive run at the Malaysia Open, progressing to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles competition with a straight-game wins in the US$ 700,000 world tour super 750 tournament, in Kuala Lumpur.
Sourabh will next face Korea's Heo Kwang Hee for a place in the men's singles final.
Sindhu, seeded second, defeated local favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21, 21-7 in 37 minutes to make the last-eight stage of her season-opener, while eighth seed Srikanth recorded a clinical 21-14, 21-9 win over Japan's Asian Games bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto.
After Srikanth was ousted 9-21, 11-21 by reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan, third seed Sindhu went down fighting 11-21, 21-11, 15-21 to World No. 6 Chen Yufei of China in a hard-fought contest, which lasted 52 minutes.
World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth overcame some stiff resistance in the second game from lower ranked Mexican rival Lino Munoz before winning his Group H clash in straight games in the badminton singles event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday night.
After losing the first game, the 24-year-old Indian rebounded strongly to clinch a 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 win over Wan Ho in a gruelling second-round clash that lasted almost an hour.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth's wretched run continued as he went down 6-21, 17-21 to fellow-Indian Ajay Jayaram, diminishing his hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, among others, lavished praise on Kidami Srikanth for claiming the Australian Open title with a stunning win over reigning Olympic and world champion Chen Long.
Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri and Gayatri Gopichand also improved two spots to the 17th position.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire after pulling his calf muscle.
HS Prannoy climbed up two spots to achieve a career-best world number seven
On Wednesday, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, seeded eighth, scraped past the Denmark duo of Amalie Magelund and Freja Ravn 21-9, 17-21, 21-19 in the women's doubles.
Besides Srikanth, the other players withdrawn are Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Rahul Thkar, Treesa Jolly, Mithun Manjunath, Simran Aman Singh and Khushi Gupta.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Kidambi Srikanth is against any drastic changes in the scoring system being contemplated by the world body.
Lakshya Sen is only the third Indian men's badminton player to reach the quarter-finals at the Olympic Games.
Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
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.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances