Rising shuttler PV Sindhu breezed into the quarter-finals of the women's singles while the reigning National champion Sayali Gokhale saw her campaign fall apart as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed day in the Syed Modi International India Open Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow on Thursday.
India's PV Sindhu scripted history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the final at the Olympics when she shocked Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games in the women's singles at the Rio Games on Thursday.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, on Saturday, felicitated 2018 Commonwealth Games medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu among others at Pragathi Bhavan.
P V Sindhu said she has a strategy in place to outwit the World No. 1 in Tuesday's singles final at the Asian Games final in Jakarta.
Kidambi Srikanth made a winning start but PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were ousted
Top Indian shuttler P V Sindhu will not be shaking hands during next week's All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham and use the traditional 'Namaste' greeting instead following the coronavirus outbreak, the 24-year-old said. Seven Indian badminton players have pulled out of the Birmingham tournament over coronavirus fears.
The opening ceremony will be held on April 4.
India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will be seen in action for the first time since the coronavirus-forced break when they compete in three upcoming tournaments in Bangkok, including the prestigious BWF World Tour Finals.
From China's world number one Shi Yuqi's surprising loss to Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn, to Malaysia's women's doubles team's brave bid for a medal, badminton at the Paris Olympics was characterised by upsets, plucky underdogs and, ultimately, reminders that some top seeds are there for a reason.
Former Olympic and World champion Taufik Hidayat feels that the emergence of the talented PV Sindhu will not only reduce the burden of expectations on Saina Nehwal but also make India a force to reckon with in women's singles category.
India's schedule on Friday, August 5, Day 8 of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The Olympic silver-medallist, who out-played Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in a lop-sided final in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday, was mobbed at the airport after she touched down, with national coach Pullela Gopichand by her side, late on Monday.
This was Sindhu's second consecutive loss to Tzu Ying. Saina was no match for Carolina Marin, who took exactly half-an-hour to dispose of the Indian's challenge, beating her 8-21, 7-21.
Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the quarter-finals of the French Open after suffering straight-game defeats in their respective matches as India's campaign ended in the singles events.
It's a demoralising loss for especially considering Japan did not field their full-strength team, with several top players absent.
Lakshya's Paris hopes brighten, enters No.15 in Olympic Games qualification
Lakshya Sen moved a place to world number 17, despite not competing in the last two weeks.
From Neeraj Chopra to PV Sindhu, India's top sports personalities hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for hosting a successful G20 Summit and taking "international diplomacy to a whole new level".
Earlier this month, Sindhu had attained her career-best world number two ranking after clinching her maiden India Open Super Series title.
The 23-year-old remains India's 'silver girl', having lost finals at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and two world championships before Tuesday's Asian Games title showdown defeat to world number one Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan.
Indian men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh and former skipper of the national women's side Saba Anjum were conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri Award by President Pranab Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
With her silver from Rio, PV Sindhu is already India's most successful female Olympian but her World Championship triumph also boosted the nation's hopes of a medal in Tokyo next year.
A keen contest is on the cards when world's top woman shuttler Carolina Marin crosses swords with India's PV Sindhu in the inaugural match of Premier Badminton League between Hyderabad Hunters and Chennai Smashers on Sunday.
Top shuttler P V Sindhu has recovered to be fit for the singles event of the ongoing Commonwealth Games, national coach Pullela Gopichand said.
Padukone attributed Sindhu and Saina's success to their physical abilities.
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.
World champion PV Sindhu made an early exit from the China Open but B Sai Praneeth kept the Indian flag fluttering with a hard-fought straight-game win to reach the men's singles quarter-finals.
Defending champion PV Sindhu suffered a straight-game defeat to Tai Tzu Ying while Srikanth assured himself of a medal.
Star India shuttler P V Sindhu made an exit from Thailand Open after going down in straight games to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in the semi-finals in Bangkok on Saturday.
Her frequent losses in the finals and the accompanying criticism does not affect ace shuttler PV Sindhu, who, on Saturday, said playing in the summit showdown of a tournament itself is 'a big achievement'.
The women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China 18-21, 11-21.
Indian shuttler PV Sindhu will be seen on the hot seat of popular game show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' (KBC).
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday admitted that it was tough for him to manage two of his illustrious wards Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu together, saying he could never pick a favourite between the two. Gopichand said he always saw the duo as his kids and felt bitter when Saina left his academy to join Prakash Padukone's academy.
Earlier in the day, the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanshia Crasto squandered an early lead to go down 21-18, 15-21, 19-21 against Malaysia's Pang Ron Hoo and Su Yin Cheng in the second round.
This is the second time in her career, after April 6 this year that Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu has occupied the second spot on the leaderboard.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed as "historical accomplishment" Indian women shuttlers winning the Badminton Asia Team Championships, and said the way our 'nari shakti' (women power) has been excelling in various sports is phenomenal.
Second seed PV Sindhu sailed into the women's singles quarter-finals with a comfortable win over Japan's Aya Ohori in the Hong Kong Open Superseries, in Hong Kong on Thursday.
P V Sindhu is hoping to become India's first-ever woman Olympic gold medallist across all sporting disciplines when she takes on World champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the final of women's singles badminton event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Friday.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (women's doubles) and B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy (mixed doubles) suffered three-game defeats in their opening contests.
World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen and men's doubles combination of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy registered contrasting victories to reach their first Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2022 final, while PV Sindhu was knocked out, in New Delhi on Saturday.