Saina was awarded a cheque of Rs 25 lakhs for her title-winning performance at the Australia Super Series in 2016, besides becoming the first Indian to become the World No. 1 and reaching the finals at All England champion in 2015.
Back in action after recovering from a knee injury, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she needs good match practice to be at her best in the prestigious All England Championship in March. "I am happy with my improvement. My movements are still sluggish. I still need good match practice," she told reporters here late last night after losing to top-ranked shuttler Carolina Marin in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) match. Saina had sustained an intra-articular injury (inside the joint) in her right knee and had lost in the group stage in the Rio Olympics. She later underwent a surgery and was on rehab.
It was heartbreak for P V Sindhu at the World Badminton Championships. The Indian shuttler had to settle for a second consecutive bronze medal after succumbing to Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-finals, in Copenhagen, on Saturday.
It is the surprise element of the unheralded shutters, who could pose a bigger threat to his medal aspirations at next month's Commonwealth Games.
Jehan's rookie year in F3 got off to a solid start in the previous weekend at Silverstone where the multiple Indian and Asian Karting champion earned himself two rookie podiums.
Rediff.com brings you a glance of all the action from the week gone by.
HS Prannoy notched up a thrilling three-game win over Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap in an all-Indian final to clinch the $ 120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold in Anaheim, California.
Star India shuttler Saina Nehwal, who has recovered from a serious knee injury sustained during the Rio Olympics in August and is back on the international circuit, is still not at her physical best and needs more time to reach that high level, feels her coach Vimal Kumar.
Singapore will be counting on its marquee Formula One race to help make up for a 30 percent drop in Chinese tourists this year.
In sizzling form after clinching the China Open and finishing runners-up at Hong Kong, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu will look to sign off the year with another crown when she competes in the season-ending World Superseries Finals starting in Dubai from Wednesday. In Rio de Janeiro, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win an Olympics silver medal in August, but qualifying for the Dubai World Super Series final still was a far cry as she was placed at 16th in the Destination Dubai Rankings with just two events -- China Open and Hong Kong Open -- remaining.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
The Hyderabad Open badminton tournament, scheduled to be held from August 11 to 16, was on Thursday cancelled by the world body BWF in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The event was part of the BWF's revised calendar to restart the sport after the pandemic-forced cancellations since March.
P V Sindhu hoped to regain peak fitness before the start of individual events and assured India will return with multiple medals.
A glance back at some of the important ups and down Indian Inc faced in 2018.