On an extremely bad for India at the Denmark Open, top seed Saina Nehwal suffered a shock second round defeat while Kidambi Srikanth also failed to clear the second round in men's singles of the $650,000 Super Series Premier event, in Odense on Thursday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal shepherded the Hyderabad Hotshots to a comfortable 3-2 victory over Mumbai Masters in the inaugural Indian Badminton League at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi, Pune.
Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round with an easy victory, but it was a disappointing day for Indians overall, as Parupalli Kashyap and P V Sindhu failed to cross the opening round in the Hong Kong Super Series on Wednesday. Looking for her first title this season, world No 7 Saina hardly broke a sweat as she outplayed Indonesia's Bellaetrix Manuputty 21-14, 21-16 in 34 minutes.
While Saina made short work of USA's Beiwan Zhang, second seed Sindhu had to dig deep to get the better of Japanese Sayaka Sato.
Spearheaded by Malaysian world No 1 Lee Chong Wei, Mumbai Masters took a winning 3-1 lead over Delhi Smashers in the Indian Badminton League match at the NSCI courts, in Mumbai, on Tuesday night.
Sindhu leads India to 3-2 win over Hong Kong in Asia badminton Team Championship
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Indian mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra clinched their maiden Grand Prix title, bagging the Brazil Open with a straight games victory over Canadian combo of Toby Ng and Rachel Honderich at Foz do Iguacu in Brazil, on Sunday.
In the men's draw, HS Prannoy, went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
A rematch of the All England final between India's Saina Nehwal and world champion Carolina Marin is on the cards with the two stars given first and second seeding in the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries to be played from March 24.
Fifth seeded Sindhu, who made early exits from China and Korea last month, has been pitted against Michelle Li, who remains a tricky customer despite the fact that Sindhu has a 5-2 head-to-head record against the world no 9 Canadian.
PV Sindhu will open her campaign against South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, while Saina Nehwal takes on Scotland's Kristy Gilmour in the first round.
Saina Nehwal guided the Indian women's team to a dominating 5-0 win over Germany to stay on course for a knockout berth in Uber Cup, but the men's team suffered a narrow 2-3 defeat against Hong Kong, staring at an early exit in Thomas Cup badminton tournament in Kunshan, China.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stayed on course to reclaim titles while a vintage Parupalli Kashyap too regained some form to seal places in the men's singles semi-finals of the US $350,000 India Open badminton, in Delhi, on Friday.
Seven Indian shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta, officially earned qualification berths for the August Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after the much-awaited BWF world rankings were released on Thursday. Friday's rankings were used to determine the Olympic qualifiers in each of the five categories -- men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles -- from the points accumulated in the period between May 4, 2015 and May 1st, 2016. Four years ago, five Indians had qualified at London Olympics. This year, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina would be representing India in her third Games, while the women's doubles pair of Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa will also play their second Olympics in August. Besides, K Srikanth and P V Sindhu earned their maiden Olympic berths in men's singles and women's events respectively. For the first time, India will have two women's singles players playing in the Olympics.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Star shuttler and Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal of India will begin the hunt for her first title of the season and also eye a return to the top-5 when the China Open Super Series Premier starts with the qualifiers in Shanghai from Tuesday.
Expectations will be sky-high when Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu returns to international circuit this week, spearheading the Indian campaign at Denmark Open Superseries Premier badminton tournament starting in Odense from Tuesday. A slew of felicitation programs kept her busy in the last one and a half month after Sindhu returned from Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Indian badminton player to win a silver and her legions of fans will expect her to replicate the Olympic success when she competes this week. The sixth-seeded Indian will open her campaign against China's He Bingjiao on Wednesday. Sindhu has been clubbed in the second half of the draw where she might face the likes of second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, Korean fourth seed Sung Ji Hyun and the tricky Chinese Taipei girl Tai Tzu Ying, seeded fifth.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the seventh day of the Asian Games on Saturday.
The dreaded Zika virus may be of serious concern to some taking part in next month's Rio Olympics, but Indian shot put hopeful Inderjeet Singh just brushed it aside and said that it was unlikely to trouble the country's 100-plus contingent at the Games.
In a shock for Indian fans, star shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap fell by the wayside after losing their respective singles matches at the 17th Asian Games on Friday.
India's shuttlers enjoyed a mixed day at the Australian Open Super Series as Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth progressed to the second round but four others were knocked out in the first round itself, in Sydney, on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarter-finals with easy victories, but the highlight of the third day's proceedings in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament was H S Prannoy's thrilling victory over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen.
Young Indian shuttlers K Srikanth and H S Prannoy advanced to the quarter-finals of men's singles at the Japan Open, but it was curtains for teen sensation P V Sindhu in the US $200,000 Super Series event, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
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.
The Indian women's team qualified for the quarter-finals in the Uber Cup badminton tournament despite a 2-3 defeat to 2014 runners-up Japan in their third and final Group D match, in Kunshan, China, on Wednesday. The men's team, however, continued its dismal run in the Thomas Cup and crashed out after being blanked 0-5 by Indonesia in their third Group B match at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire after pulling his calf muscle.
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The Indian men's team salvaged some pride with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Germany in their inconsequential Group C tie to end its campaign at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament on a positive note at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
World No. 1 Saina Nehwal started her campaign with a hard-fought win, while P V Sindhu eased past her opponent at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championship.
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton scoring contrasting victories, in Delhi, on Wednesday. Si
India began their campaign Badminton Asia Team Championships in style with both men's and women's teams posting victories against their Singapore rivals to make it to the quarterfinals. Indian men made a clean sweep of their five-match tie against Singapore, who had lost to China two days ago. India, China and Singapore are part of Group A. Despite the absence of star player Saina Nehwal, the Indian women registered a comprehensive 5-0 win against Singapore and also entered the quarter finals as the Singapore team lost to Japan earlier. Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches. India's rising shuttler Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over his Singapore rival Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first Singles match. The Singaporean tried to make matters difficult for Srikanth, but the world number nine bounced back to have the last laugh.
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu and national champion K Srikanth continued their rampaging run with contrasting victories to reach the semi-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament in Lucknow.
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad will begin her campaign against China's Li Xuerui, a former Olympic gold medallist and World No 1.
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.
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