Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu suffered a three-game defeat to much lower-ranked Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the second round of $350,000 Hong Kong Super Series, in Kowloon, on Thursday. However, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to enter the quarter-finals of the women's and men's singles respectively.
Srikanth made a good start in the second game, moving to 7-3 advantage but Lee once again turned the tables, jumping to 13-9 and kept his nose ahead to eventually shut the doors on the Indian.
It was a smooth performance from Sindhu as she was hardly tested by the Taiwanese qualifier
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who hasn't played any tournament since the Birmingham Games due to an ankle injury, is now world number five after moving up a spot.
In the men's draw, HS Prannoy, went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
India's campaign at the Sudirman Cup ended after they went down 0-3 against top seed and 10-time champions China in the quarter-finals of the mixed team championship in Gold Coast.
In the women's singles match, Sindhu brought some smiles back in the Indian camp after seeing off Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-15, 19-21, 21-13, setting up a clash with Japan's Aya Ohori on the eve of her 23rd birthday on Thursday.
Kidambi Srikanth's opening round match ended in agony as he retired due to a knee injury after lagging 14-21, 3-11 against Japan's fifth seed Kodai Naraoka.
In the mixed doubles, the Indian duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto lost 13-21, 12-21 to the Chinese pair of Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping in the first round.
Indian shuttlers continued their impressive show with top stars P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth progressing to the semifinals of their respective events in the 21st Commonwealth Games' badminton competition, in Gold Coast, on Friday.
Saina Nehwal defeated 2011 World champion and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Yihan Wang 21-8, 21-12 in just over half an hour in the semi-finals.
The 18-year-old Sen, the 2018 world junior championships silver-medallist, lost 13-21, 12-21 to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in a 32-minute contest.
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.
Fellow Indian Kidambi Srikanth also jumped two places to sit at the 12th spot, while Lakshya Sen continued to be the best-placed Indian male shuttler at world number 9.
The Badminton Association of India are hoping to finalise the duo's appointments by the end of this month.
Rankireddy and Shetty won 21-12, 21-16 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 49 minutes.
'Lot of things to learn from this, so definitely I will work on this and try and get better for next tournaments.'
'I think it was a fantastic game for me. I started off really well in the first game but he was playing well in the second game, leading 11-6 at the break and fighting it out. But overall, I think my game was going great, my attack was going well for me'
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal topped her group to march into the women's singles semi-finals while Kidambi Srikanth reached the last four stage despite losing his last men's singles round robin match at the BWF World Super Series Finals in Dubai on Friday.
India's men's badminton lifted the Thomas Cup title with a commanding 3-0 win over powerhouse Indonesia
Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal may have hit global headlines with their big wins against China's superstars of badminton but sadly they have not made it into the state-run Chinese media, which played down their herculean achievement.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki N Reddy also won their mixed doubles first round match, beating Denmark's Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 10-21, 21-16, 21-17.
Indian ace shuttler HS Prannoy produced a remarkable performance as he breezed past Malaysia's Joo Ven Soong to progress through to the second round of the China Masters here on Tuesday.
"She will need to be at her best for next year which will have Asian Games and also the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification, playing about 22 tournaments will be tough, so she is taking extra care,"
Prannoy is only seeded Indian player at No. 7 in the men's singles draw of 32 as he will begin his campaign against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, against whom the Indian has a 4-1 win-loss record.
Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy has pulled out of the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament due to a back injury that troubled him during his maiden bronze medal-winning run at the recently-concluded Asian Games.
Lakshya Sen upset World No 4 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the round of 32 match at the Malaysia Masters.
A former world no. 2, Sindhu has regained her place in the top 5 after three years. The former world champion from Hyderabad resumed her training on Monday after recovering from the injury.
Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu sailed into the women's singles quarter-finals with straight-game wins but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the BWF Badminton World Championships, in Nanjing, China on Thursday.
It was a mixed night for the Indian badminton team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as India's big hope P V Sindhu suffered a three-game loss against Michelle Li in the women's singles but the Indian team still managed to advance to the semi-finals of the mixed team championship after defeating Canada 3-1.
In the mixed doubles event, Satwiksairak Rankreddy and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign on a winning note. The duo beat the German combine of Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler in straight games 21-14, 31-19.
In-form PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to break new grounds as they spearhead India's charge for an elusive gold at the 18th Asian Games badminton event which begins with the team competitions, in Jakarta, on Sunday.
India's decision to field World No 13 Sameer instead of Kidambi Srikanth in men's singles backfired as the former couldn't get going against Lee Zii Jia, losing 13-21, 15-21 in 48 minutes to allow Malaysia level the scores 1-1 after getting the lead with a win the mixed doubles.
Star Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the second round in the Korea Open Super 500 tournament.
Kidambi Srikanth and two-time bronze medallist P V Sindhu will headline a 21-member Indian contingent as they gun for the elusive gold medal at the World Badminton Championships starting in Glasgow on Monday.
The fifth seed Indian lost 21-12, 10-21, 19-21 in his opening round men's singles tie that lasted 56 minutes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated shuttlers Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth for their victories at the China Open Super Series tournament on Sunday.
Srikanth credits Gopichand for all recent success - the two back-to-back Super Series titles and says, 'My focus is on World Championships, not thinking of rankings'
Ajay Jayaram, who skipped the ongoing Korea Open, slipped a place to be at 17th.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and newly-crowned world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the final in women's and men's singles badminton respectively at the 21st Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
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