India's ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, who recently triumphed in the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix, made a leap of six places to reach a career-best ranking of 14th in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap advanced to the main draw of the men's singles competition of Japan Super Series after registering twin victories in the two rounds of the qualifiers in Tokyo on Tuesday.
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.
India's rising woman shuttler P V Sindhu rallied to shock eighth seeded Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand, while RMV Gurusaidutt defeated fancied fellow-Indian Parupalli Kashyap to enter the men's singles quarter-finals in the Li Ning China Masters badminton tournament, in Changzhou, on Thursday.
Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth, along with several other Indian players, are in Switzerland
Saina Nehwal sailed into the quarter-finals with a straight games victory, but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and P V Sindhu in the second round of the Korea Open Super Series Premier, in Seoul, on Thursday. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina needed 36 minutes to beat Mingtian Fu of Indonesia 21-16, 21-9 in a women's singles match at the SK Handball stadium.
Parupalli Kashyap, who became the first Indian male shuttler to reach the quarterfinals of Olympics on Wednesday, will have a daunting task of dethroning top seed and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia if he wants to reach the semifinals in the London Games.
The London Olympics bronze medallist displaced Spain's Carolina Marin, who defeated her in the women's final of the World Championships in Jakarta last Sunday.
Parupalli Kashyap showed nerves of steel to shock world No 10 Jan Jorgensen of Denmark in an edge-of-the-seat men's singles match to advance to the second round at the Hong Kong Super Series on Wednesday. The Indian ace, who reached the quarter-finals at the London Olympics, prevailed 24-22, 20-22, 22-20 in 68 minutes, at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon.
It will not be a Saina Nehwal versus P V Sindhu final in the women's singles but the men's singles will be an all-Indian affair with P Kashyap and K Srikanth set to clash for the title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow.
The players will get tested again for the second time on Monday.
Parupalli Kashyap surprised world No. 5 Son Wan Ho in straight games to enter the men's singles quarter-finals at the Indonesian Open Super Series, but Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after losing to a lower-ranked opponent, in Jakarta, on Thursday.
Parupalli Kashyap created history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the men's singles quarter-finals and Saina Nehwal too powered her way into the last-eight stage even as archer Deepika Kumari flopped miserably at the Olympics.
P Kashyap insisted that he too has an outside chance of qualifying for the Tokyo Games but he has no way to pursue it as he can't train at the camp.
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 leading shuttlers P V Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and Anand Pawar got off to winning starts in the singles event at the US $125,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold tournament in Basel on Wednesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap suffered a major blow to his Olympic qualification hopes when he retired hurt midway through the German Open pre-quarterfinals at Mulheim an der Ruhr on Thursday.
Lakshya Sen is only the third Indian men's badminton player to reach the quarter-finals at the Olympic Games.
Parupalli Kashyap entered the quarterfinals after top seed and Olympic champion Axelsen gave a walkover.
India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal tied the knot with fellow badminton player and long time partner Parupalli Kashyap in Hyderabad on Friday.
A fit-again P Kashyap of India resumed his journey in international badminton by notching up a comfortable win, while H S Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram also advanced to the second round of Indonesia Grand Prix Gold in Balikpapan, Indonesia on Wednesday.
World No. 1 Saina Nehwal started her campaign with a hard-fought win, while P V Sindhu eased past her opponent at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championship.
Top Indian shuttler P V Sindhu started her campaign at the US$ 600,000 Korea Open with a hard-fought win over Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap in men's singles event at the Super Series tournament in Seoul, on Wednesday.
After missing out on Rio Olympics last year due to a knee surgery, a fit-again Parupalli Kashyap is racing against time to regain his place in the Indian team and defend his title at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a straight-game win over Japan's Kazumasa Sakai but his compatriots Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt failed to cross the first hurdle in the French Super Series.
Former national badminton coach Vimal Kumar lauded Saina Nehwal for not letting her relationship with fellow shuttler Parupalli Kashyap affect her game.
Kashyap, ranked 25 in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against seventh seed Axelsen and went down 13-21, 19-21
Still grappling with a knee injury, Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning shuttler P Kashyap's chances of qualifying for the Olympics have all but ended as he has been forced to withdraw from this month's Malaysia Super Series Premier and Singapore Open.
Top Indian shuttlers, Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap crossed the opening hurdle to reach the second round of men's singles competition at the $120,000 German Grand Prix Gold in Mulheim an der Ruhr in Germany on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal, who settled for a silver medal in the Denmark Open, thanked her team for supporting her throughout the tournament, especially her fiancee.
The 33-year-old from Hyderabad, who is the lone Indian left in fray, outsmarted Jorgensen 24-22, 21-8 in 37 minutes
P V Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap cruised to the next round, but it was qualifier Shriyanshi Pardeshi of Air India who hogged the limelight after stunning former women's National champion Trupti Murgunde in straight games at the 78th ATS Senior National Badminton Championships in Delhi on Friday.
Indian badminton stalwarts P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal suffered contrasting fortunes at the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, the former progressing to the second round and the latter bowing out after losing her opener in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday.
Indian challenge ended at the Japan Open on Friday as Parupalli Kashyap was beaten by sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the men's singles quarter-finals.
Indian badminton star and Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was Thursday ruled out along withParupalli Kashyap from the 12th South Asian Games due to injury concerns, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) informed the local organisers in Shillong. "We've received a communication from BAI stating that the entire badminton squad except for Saina and Kashyap is arriving on Friday afternoon," SAG (Shillong) joint CEO FR Kharkongor told PTI. Saina and Kashyap are two of the top badminton athletes for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio. Jwala Gutta has been confirmed as the captain of the Indian team by BAI President Akhilesh Das Gupta.
It was a quiet birthday for India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal, who celebrated the special day in 'isolation' with her husband Parupalli Kashyap at her home in Hyderabad, on Tuesday.
His repeated requests for rehabilitation ignored, Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Parupalli Kashyap is flummoxed after being sent air tickets to join the Indian badminton squad at the South Asian Games despite being laid low by an abdominal strain.
Srikanth fought hard for 55 minutes against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open, but it was H S Prannoy, who hogged the limelight on Thursday with a straight games demolition of world No. 2 Jan O Jorgensen in the men's singles.