With the main draw of the Asian Badminton Championships set to get underway from Wednesday, the struggling Indian shuttlers face an uphill task.
India's schedule on Day 9 of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday.
Star India shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched up comfortable victories but it was young Mumbai player Harsheel Dani who hogged the limelight at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold when he stunned H S Prannoy in straight games to storm into the quarter-finals in Lucknow on Thursday.
Following her bronze-medal finish at the recently-concluded World badminton Championships, India's top shuttler P V Sindhu has re-entered the top-10 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday.
The Birmingham showpiece will be held from July 28 to August 8.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
The world body has so far maintained that it has no plans to make any adjustments to the regulations related to the Tokyo Games qualification period and that other events will go as per schedule.
Crowned the world number one, Saina Nehwal celebrated her numero uno status with a straight-game demolition of Japanese Yui Hashimoto, while Kidambi Srikanth too saw off Xue Song of China to reach their maiden finals at the Yonex Sunrise India Super Series.
P V Sindhu has made early exits in as many as seven of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year.
PM Modi met in person and interacted with the badminton squad
Disappointed not to get gold but bronze means a lot: Prannoy
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
In the men's doubles however, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to 11th seeded Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 11-21, 16-21 in a second round match that lasted 41 minutes.
However, the Indian duo of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan suffered a crushing 8-21, 4-21 loss to Denmark's Mathias Thyrri and Mai Surrow, the mixed doubles first round match lasting barely 21 minutes.
Chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Monday singled out world number one doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as favourites for an Olympic medal and said two-time medallist PV Sindhu too is on the right path and can deliver once again at the Paris Games.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Monday stressed on the importance of taking necessary precautions in the next two weeks to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has created a global upheaval. Former World No 1 Kidambi Srikanth also took to twitter, urging people to help each other instead of panicking.
2023 was marked by outstanding sporting achievements, shattered records, and the crowning of new champions, all captured by photographers documenting every significant twist and turn.
HS Prannoy becomes the first player to beat Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Victor Axelsen in full a match since March.
Sen, who had emulated his mentor Prakash Padukone by winning the World championship bronze in Huelva, Spain last month, will now look to claim the All England Championships in March.
Riding on her title-triumph at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, India's P V Sindhu, on Thursday, jumped one place to be just outside the top 10 in the latest BWF ranking.
PV Sindhu jumped two places to grab the ninth spot, while former World No. 1 Saina, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from a serious injury, slipped five places to 11th spot.
Sindhu, who had finished runner-up at the last edition in Dubai, dished out a superb game, mixing with patience with aggression, to edging the Japanese 24-22, 21-15.
PV Sindhu outclassed Germany's Yvonne Li to cruise into the women's singles quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event in Bali on Thursday.
Two-time Olympics medallist P V Sindhu opted out citing post-Olympics recovery.
Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu, who made early exits at the China Open and Korea Open, dropped to the 6th spot after five months and the former World No 2 shuttler will look to make amends at the Denmark Open and French Open.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Srikanth or Sindhu? Advani or Kohli? Or will a 21 year old pip the stars? Vote and tell us who your favourite Indian sportsperson of the year is.
Olympic medallist Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal entered the semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters' tournament after a straight-game win over Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.
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.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
India have been drawn with top seeds and defending champions China, Thailand and hosts Finland for the upcoming Sudirman Cup badminton tournament, making it a tough Group A for the side to negotiate.
US Open champion Prannoy, who had reached a career-best World No 11 ranking last week, improved a place further to grab the 10th spot. He has been rewarded for his consistent performance this season where he reached the semi-finals at the Indonesia Open and French Open.
Coach Vimal Kumar compared this triumph to India's 1983 Cricket World Cup win, hoping it will spur the popularity of badminton.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
The Indian women's team went down to Indonesia 1-3 for its second loss in the Badminton Asia Team Championships in, Alor Setar, on Friday.
Earlier this month, Sindhu had attained her career-best world number two ranking after clinching her maiden India Open Super Series title.
Two players withdrawn from India Open due to COVID-19
The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.
The left-hander nominated nine people, including his Uttar Pradesh teammates Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, India hockey goalkeeper P R Sreejesh, Board of Control for Cricket in India vice-president Rajeev Shukla, singers Shreya Ghosal and Sonu Nigam to take forward the Challenge and urged them to continue the campaign.
Sindhu looked in complete control as she prevailed 21-15, 21-11 over world No. 36 Tan in a 29-minute match.
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