Sporting icons -- PV Sindhu and MC Mary Kom -- will be the star attractions among the Indians on Day 6 of the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
Expectations from the Indian male shuttlers will also be high, given their exploits in recent months.
Hailing Pusarla V Sindhu's excellent show right through 2016 that saw her becoming the first and only Indian shuttler to win a silver medal in the Olympic Games, chief national coach P Gopichand said his lanky ward is capable of scaling greater heights. "I have always maintained that even when she won in 2013 or 2014 (back-to-back world championship singles bronze medals) Sindhu is still some time away from being her best. I maintain that even now that she has the potential to do even better," said the former All-England men's singles champion during an interaction with the media in Mumbai.
'It is hard to digest that Sridevi is no more'
Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso has been roped in to guide the singles players -- both men and women -- ahead of Tokyo Olympics. Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary, Ajay Singhania said the visa process has started and Santoso is likely to join the Indian team in the mid of next month.
Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu made it to her maiden Super Series final with a stunning upset victory over reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the Denmark Open.
India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty outclassed Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe of Japan in straight games to enter the men's doubles final at the French Open.
Because billions of people around the world will be watching these brand ambassadors, what they wear during the Olympics is highly regimented, leading to complicated wardrobe changes.
World champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Chinese Taipei's No 1 shuttler Tai Tzu Ying will be up for grabs when the high-profile Players' Auction for the lucrative Premier Badminton League gets underway in Hyderabad on Monday.
Yavarivafa would be jailed three times -- once entirely alone for a day, crying and taken from her mother -- before she made it to Birmingham, England at the end of 2019 and finally found a home.
Nehwal has had a troubled run in this year as she has now faced exits from a tournament in the first round five times.
Sindhu said she is working on her technique to iron out the flaws.
Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram advanced to the quarter-finals after registering thrilling three-game wins over their respective opponents in the second round of the China Super Series Premier, in Fuzhou, on Thursday.
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
Spearheading India's challenge at the World Championships, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu says she is in good form and vowed to better the colour of her past two bronze medals.
India will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
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.
The biggest upset of the day was produced by Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi, who knocked out Olympic champion and last year's finalist Carolina Marin 21-12, 21-19, in a 48-minute clash.
The struggle of Indian women shuttlers on the BWF circuit is quite apparent, but Saina Nehwal backs her colleagues by saying that even the strong Chinese players are finding it difficult to dish out strong performances on a consistent basis and expressed hope that the lean patch of the singles players will end soon.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday congratulated the Indian badminton mixed team for clinching silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
After six successive losses in 13 meetings, PV Sindhu finally got the better of her nemesis World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu clinched her maiden Super Series Premier title after edging out Sun Yu of China in the finals of the China Open badminton tournament in Fuzhou on Sunday. Sindhu, who became the toast of the country after becoming the first Indian women to win a silver at Rio Games, continued her rampaging run as she lifted the prestigious title after beating Sun 21-11 17-21 21-11 in the summit clash that lasted an hour and nine minutes.
His stunning monster throw of 89.34 metres in the qualification round made quite a statement, but a tough challenge awaits defending champion Neeraj Chopra as he seeks another piece of history in the Paris Olympics men's javelin throw final round in Paris on Thursday.
She will meet World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying for the title on Sunday.
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.
India's fancied shuttlers didn't break a sweat on way to completing a 5-0 sweep of Pakistan in their mixed team campaign opener at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday.
Lakshya leaves Paris with the best-ever finish by an Indian shuttler in the men's singles event at the Olympics.
Lakshya Sen falls to Axelsen in semis, to play bronze-medal playoff
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu celebrated her 23rd birthday with a straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori to enter the quarter-finals of the $1,250,000 Indonesia Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
P V Sindhu hoped to regain peak fitness before the start of individual events and assured India will return with multiple medals.
P V Sindhu won the ESPN's 'Female Sportsperson of the Year' award while young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the honour in the male category.
Describing the year that's coming to an end as "fantastic" for her personally, Rio Olympic Games silver medal-winning shuttler Pusarla V Sindhu said she was now targeting the no.1 world ranking among women after reaching a career-best six at present. "It has been a fantastic year for me, because winning a medal at the Olympics is a big achievement. It's a dream come true. Also, I always had in mind that I wanted to win a Super Series title and that also was fulfilled (at the China Open)," Sindhu told reporters on the sidelines of a promotional event in Mumbai on Thursday.
Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal continued her impressive run, progressing into the women's singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over unseeded Korean Lee Jang Mi at the Asia Badminton Championship in Wuhan, on Friday.
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.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu's gallant fight ended in agony as India made a dismal start to their Sudirman Cup campaign, going down to the formidable Chinese Taipei in the opening round in Suzhou on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Sen, who won a bronze in the 2021 World Championships, has been in brilliant form, starting the year with a gold medal at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open before finishing runner-up, at the prestigious All England Open Championships and also at the German Open.
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.
P V Sindhu breezed into the summit clash of the World Tour Finals for the second successive time after prevailing over 2013 World champion Ratchanok Intanon in a tense semi-final.
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