The Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, one of badminton's last two Olympic qualifying events, was on Friday postponed due to a recent COVID-19 surge in the host country, dealing a severe blow to the Tokyo hopes of Indian stars like Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.
India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, on Wednesday, suffered shocking first-round exits from the Malaysia Open Super Series in Kuching.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal played her heart out but eventually ran out of steam as French Hongyan Pi beat her in a gruelling quarterfinal encounter of the Malaysian Super Series in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
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.
If Saina manages to go past Okuhara, the Indian might run into fourth seed Carolina Marin, who is placed in her half of the draw.
Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women's singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes
India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal tied the knot with fellow badminton player and long time partner Parupalli Kashyap in Hyderabad on Friday.
India will be sending full teams for the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold (May 30-June 4), Indonesia Open Super Series (June 12-18) and Australian Open Super Series (June 20-25).
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.
The quarter-finals bug bit Saina Nehwal yet again at the badminton World Championships.
"EC has added Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom to its list of national icons. Till now we had former President APJ Abdul Kalam and Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni as icons. I am hopeful that our new icons will make debut appearances in Gujarat polls. The work is going on with them for promotional messages to be released soon," EC Director General Akshay Raut said.
Saina Nehwal once again faltered at the semi-final stage as she suffered a straight game defeat at the hands of China's Wang Yihan in the women's singles at the Asia Badminton Championships, in Wuhan, China, on Saturday.
All eyes will be on Indian ace Saina Nehwal when she returns to the court after an injury lay-off at the All England Championship, hoping to better last year's runner-up finish at the prestigious event which begins with the qualifiers in Birmingham.
World No 1 shuttler Saina Nehwal presented the racquet with which she won a silver medal at the Badminton World Championships to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an advanced birthday present, on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal remained static at second position while Kidambi Srikanth dropped a place to be at ninth spot in the world badminton rankings released on Thursday.
The shuttlers led by Saina Nehwal will make their first appearance in the Olympic Games on Thursday along with men golfers as India still waits for its first medal after five days of fruitless labour in this Brazilian city.
Popat was taken the distance by B R Meenakshi while Saina Nehwal easily beat Trupti Murgunde in the semi-finals of the Senior National badminton championships.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal wants Bajirao Mastani actress Deepika Padukone to portray her in the upcoming biopic on herself.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire after pulling his calf muscle.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu is set to fly out of London on Sunday -- she will reach Bangkok via Doha.
The London Olympic bronze medallist will face either Denmark's Line Christophersen or compatriot Ira Sharma for a place in the finals at the Super 100 event, which is a part of BWF's revised Olympic qualification events.
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men's singles quarter-finals that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
"In the second set, I was on the slower side. I was trying to make rallies happen but the points went very quickly," she added.
National champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the semi-finals of the Singapore Open badminton tournament, beating Indonesia's Firdasari Adrianti 21-16, 20-22, 21-16 on Friday.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will spearhead a strong contingent at the USD 250,000 Swiss Open, beginning on Tuesday, aiming to regain top form.
Saina Nehwal said she has no regrets about 'standing up for her father' in the athletes village accommodation controversy
The first Indian woman to clinch a silver medal at the World Championship in the 2015 edition at Jakarta, Saina has been struggling ever since, limping out of the Olympics last year with a knee injury.
Three-time champion Saina Nehwal registered a 21-18, 21-15 win against PV Sindhu, a two-time winner, in the summit clash.
On Wednesday, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, seeded eighth, scraped past the Denmark duo of Amalie Magelund and Freja Ravn 21-9, 17-21, 21-19 in the women's doubles.
Scheduled to be held in Denmark from October 3 to 11, the Thomas and Uber Cup will mark the resumption of international badminton after it was brought to a halt in March because of the dreaded virus.
Former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal will miss the World Championships for the first time in her international career due to multiple injuries that have derailed her season.
India's Saina Nehwal on Saturday crashed out of the Orleans Masters after losing in the semi-final against Denmark's Line Christophersen, in Paris on Saturday.
The Indian ace will be looking to get the better off the Spaniard in Japan Super Series, starting next week, and avenge her recent defeat at the World Championships.
Olympics-bound Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu easily won their women's singles first round matches in the Badminton Asia Championships, in Wuhan, China, on Wednesday.
However, Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the tournament after losing their opening women's doubles match in straight games.
A dream All-England title may have slipped through her fingers, but Saina Nehwal insisted on taking the positives out of the prestigious badminton tournament, saying the consistency and overall improvement in her will help her to do well in the season ahead.
Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth, along with several other Indian players, are in Switzerland
Ace Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, had a disappointing start to their campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals as they suffered straight-game defeats on the opening day of the prestigious event in Dubai.
Saina Nehwal defeated China's Sun Yu 11-21, 21-14, 21-19 to clinch her second Australian Open Grand Prix Gold title.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will lose her world No. 1 ranking after her gallant fight against Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the semi-finals ended in heartbreak at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament.
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