India has huge expectations from these champions. Rediff.com's Laxmi Negi and Norma Godinho glance at their chances at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated shuttler Kidambi Srikanth after he clinched his second Super Series Premier title by lifting the Indonesia Open men's singles trophy in Jakarta.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
P V Sindhu and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes alive by making it to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles event of the India Open Super Series Badminton Championship.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu continued to reach new heights as she became the second Indian woman to break into the top 5 in the latest BWF World Rankings.
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.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P V Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday. Saina, who clinched her second Australian Open title earlier this month, exchanged places with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who now occupies the sixth spot in the women's singles list headed by Spain's Carolina Marin.
Riding on her title-triumph at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, India's P V Sindhu, on Thursday, jumped one place to be just outside the top 10 in the latest BWF ranking.
India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu did the star turn, winning two matches as Chennai Smashers outclassed Ahmedabad Smash Masters 2-1 in the Premier Badminton League in Chennai, on Saturday.
The world body has so far maintained that it has no plans to make any adjustments to the regulations related to the Tokyo Games qualification period and that other events will go as per schedule.
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.
'Today, the State is permanently going after politicians, but also civil society, academics and all those it is threatened by or irritated with.'
The World No 6 will next face Spain's Pablo Abian on Wednesday.
National badminton coach, Pullela Gopichand, on Wednesday expressed happiness at the performance this year of Indian shuttlers and termed Kidambi Srikanth's feat of winning four Super Series titles as 'phenomenal'.
The Uttar Pradesh election has become like a proverbial elephant. The political parties are looking at it from different angles and their assessments are quite contrary to each other, but not necessarily incorrect. Sheela Bhatt shares the prevailing excitement about the UP election and the best case scenario that the Bharatiya Janata Party is looking forward to on March 6, when the results will be declared.
Saina dropped two spots to third in the women's singles list, and is placed below Spaniard Carolina Marin (80752), who rose a rung following her Australian Open title triumph.
Newly-crowned China Open champion P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal entered the quarterfinals of the women's singles competition at the Hong Kong Open Super Series tournament on a fruitful day for Indian shuttlers in Kowloon. Sindhu, who bagged her maiden Super Series Premier title last week at the China Open just months after winning the silver at Rio Olympics, trounced Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching 21-10 21-14, while Saina dished out a gruelling performance against Japan's Sayaka Sato to edge prevail 21-18 9-21 21-16.
Taking the Indian challenge forward, P V Sindhu progressed to the women's singles quarter-finals after a tough win over Yu Po Pai in the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday. Sindhu overcame the challenge of the Taipei shuttler 21- 16 21-16 in the second round. However, B Sai Parineeth, who had eked out a memorable win over legendary Lee Chong Wei at the All England championship, made an exit from the event after losing 19-21 6-21 to second seed Tien Chen Chou from Taipei in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.
The Rio Games silver winner easily notched up a 21-14, 21-15 win over unseeded Japanese Aya Ohori in the second round match that lasted just 40 minutes.
Riding on her stupendous performance at the Australian Open Super Series, Indian ace Saina Nehwal jumped two places to reach the World No. six in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad, who clinched the Australian Open title -- her first of the season - last Sunday, now has 75,369 points in her kitty.
Despite clinching the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold men's title, India's K Srikanth remained static at World No. 9 while P V Sindhu dropped a place to be No.12 in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings released on Thursday. The women's singles' ranking list had Saina Nehwal holding on to her World No. 2. place despite skipping the Lucknow event, where she was the defending champion. Runners-up in men's doubles event at Syed Modi, Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar improved two places to be at World No. 34, while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who lost in the opening round at Lucknow, dropped two places to be at No. 20. A quarterfinal loss at Syed Modi event also had an adverse affect on P Kashyap as he slipped to World No. 15, while H S Prannoy slumped seven places to be at 27th spot. Ajay Jayaram was static at No. 25.
A company statement said the couple is facing a case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the last two years, and sought to link the action with muzzling of free speech and freedom of the press.
Top seeds P V Sindhu and K Srikanth notched up contrasting victories to advance to the third round of the $120,000 Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold tournament, in Malang, on Thursday.
Despite clinching the Macau Open title for the third time, India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu remained static at 12th position in the latest BWF world ranking released on Thursday. Saina Nehwal also held on to her number two position but a poor run of form saw K Srikanth lose a spot and slip to World No. 9.
Saina, who was looking good at the start of the season, was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis with mild pancreatitis which affected her performance at the All England Championship.
P V Sindhu's title defence lay in tatters after suffering a shock straight-game loss to hitherto unknown Chinese Gao Fangjie in the quarter-finals of the China Super Series Premier in Fuzhou.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal regained the No 1 position in the international rankings after China's Li Xuerui dropped a couple of rungs to third in the latest list, issued on Friday.
India ace Kidambi Srikanth was rewarded for his sensational run this season as he grabbed a career-best ranking of World No. 2 after jumping two places in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday.
In an unusually lengthy statement, the agency said it has not conducted any search on the registered office of NDTV, media studio, news room or premises connected with media operations.
Officials said that the decision has been put on hold till the time the appeal is disposed of.
PV Sindhu cruised into the second round but compatriot Saina Nehwal bowed out fighting in the Badminton Asia Championships.
Nine years after parting ways, Prannoy Roy and Rupert Murdoch are again coming together for a unique airtime sale and marketing alliance.
'...vis-a-vis state or local elections,' Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala tell Uttaran Das Gupta.
Confident about their preparation for the upcoming World Championships, India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said the home shuttlers have the best chance of winning multiple medals at the prestigious tournament next month.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton.
Defending champions Parupalli Kashyap and Sayali Gokhale entered the quarterfinals of the 78th ATS Senior National Badminton championship with contrasting wins at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Saturday.
PV Sindhu finally fetched India its first ever World Championships gold in the sport but spent rest of the year struggling for form.
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.
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