Saina Nehwal's comeback may have ended with a gruelling opening round loss at the China Super Series Premier in Fuzhou but the London Olympics bronze medallist said she was satisfied with the way she played.
Lakshya Sen, who won both his matches to play his part in the silver medal-winning effort in men's team event, too dropped one spot to world number 15. Kidambi Srikanth gained a spot to 20th.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Indonesian Open Super Series after registering a straight-game victory over Petya Nedelcheva in the second round in Jakarta on Thursday. The fourth seeded Indian needed just 31 minutes to dispose off Petya, winning 21-18, 21-9.
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.
Olympic bronze-medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal fought through a troubling knee to clinch her fourth title of the year by lifting the Denmark Open Super Series Premier trophy with a dominating win in the final in Odense, Denmark on Sunday.
The Indian challenge ended in the Korea Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament after Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal suffered a stunning quarter-final defeat to China's Li Han in Seoul on Friday. The third-seeded Indian ace was beaten 14-21, 21-15, 12-21 in 59 minutes.
Saina Nehwal, who won a bronze at the World Championship, jumped four rungs to be placed at the 12th spot, while Kidambi Srikanth also improved two positions in the latest BWF World ranking.
Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal cruised into the singles second round but Shruti Kurian and Jwala Ghutta bowed out of women's doubles at the World Badminton Championships.
After a quarter-final finish at Korea last week, India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal will now set her sights on the Malaysia Super Series, which begins with the qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging form and staved off the challenge of third seed Lin Zhu of China to cruise into the semifinals of the Chinese Masters Super Series at Changzhou in China on Friday.
Saina Nehwal on Sunday capped her dream run in the Chinese Taipei Open by clinching the title to become the first Indian woman shuttler with two Grand Prix crowns under her belt.
Indian shuttlers endured a disappointing day at the China Open Super Series Premier with star player Saina Nehwal going down in the women's singles second round while Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the men's singles competition in Shanghai.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday congratulated badminton sensation Saina Nehwal for winning the Indonesian Open Super Series at Jakarta, her third international title on a row.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier tournament with a comfortable straight-game win over local favourite Fitriani Fitriani in the women's singles event in Jakarta on Thursday.
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.
Saina Nehwal continued to gain in confidence ahead of Olympics as the top-seeded Indian entered the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold final after outlasting local favourite Porntip Buranaprasertsuk with a straight-game win in Bangkok on Saturday.
A quarterfinal loss at the All England Championship saw Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal slip three places down the rung to the sixth spot in the latest BWF world ranking on Thursday. Saina, who turned 26, went through injuries last year and missed out on a few tournaments this season, including the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and South Asian Games in January and February respectively. The Olympic bronze medallist, who had finished runners-up at the 2015 All England Championship, lost to Tai Tzu Ying in straight games in the quarterfinals. The Indian now has 73,222 points. Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P V Sindhu improved a place to reach the 11th spot.
Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal clarified that his ministry received the letter of nomination of badminton star Saina Nehwal for the Padma Bhushan on Saturday.
London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal will no doubt be the cynosure of all eyes but the India Open Super Series starting in New Delhi on Tuesday, will hold more significance for the country's other shuttlers, who would look to prove their mettle at the highest level.
On a high after clinching the Thailand Open title last week, Indian ace Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier with a thrilling three-game victory over Japan's Sayaka Sato in the women's singles competition in Jakarta.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Fresh from her Indonesian Open Super Series triumph, Saina Nehwal stormed into the pre-quarter-finals of Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a straight games victory over Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand in Johor Bahru on Wednesday. Second seed Saina needed less than half an hour to send Buranaprasertsuk packing with a 21-18, 22-20 victory in her opening round match.
Saina Nehwal moved a step closer to defending her Indonesian Open Super Series title, reaching the semi-finals with a straight games' victory over Denmark's eighth seed Tine Baun, in Jakarta, on Friday. The fourth seed won 21-19, 21-19 in 37 minutes.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal dished out yet another dominating performance, routing Japan's Eriko Hirose 21-9, 21-10 to storm into the final of the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Jakarta on Saturday. Saina thus earned a shot at her second successive Super Series title, having won the one in Singapore last week.
Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal says the inclusion of former Olympic champion and her childhood hero Taufik Hidayat in her team Hyderabad Hotshots will serve as a moral booster in the upcoming Indian Badminton League.
Indian challenge ended at the Asia Badminton Championship with Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu suffering three-game defeats in the quarter-finals of the continental championship in Wuhan.
Saina Nehwal staved off the challenge from Hsiao Huan Chen of Chinese Taipei in an edge-of-the-seat second round match to enter the quarter-final of the Malaysian Super Series in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Indian challenge ended at the $275,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament after top seed Saina Nehwal suffered a straight game defeat to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-finals in Paris.
Her recovery from a knee injury going on smoothly, India's star shuttler Saina Nehwal is hoping to return to the courts by the end of next month.
Saina Nehwal's semi-final outing in the China Masters Super Series turned out to be a lopsided affair as the ace Indian shuttler crashed out of the event after suffering a straight-game defeat at hands of her new nemesis Zhou Mi in Changzhou on Saturday.
Star India shuttler Saina Nehwal has signed a two-year deal with leading sports management group, IOS Sports & Entertainment. IOS will now manage Saina's endorsements, appearances, brand profiling, patents, licensing and digital rights, images and visibility on social networking sites.
Two-time defending champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Sunday. She was shocked by a lower-ranked Shixian Wang of China in the women's singles semi-final. The top seeded Indian ace fought hard before losing 11-21, 21-10, 9-21 to the fourth-seeded Chinese in a battle that lasted 50 minutes.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was on course for her third consecutive Swiss Open title as she stormed into the semi-finals of the Grand Prix Gold tournament after thrashing Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in Basel.
Parupalli Kashyap, who became the first Indian shuttler to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics Games, has said he draws inspiration from London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal. Kashyap, who received the Arjuna Award in a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday, also said he is aiming to break into the top-15 of world badminton ranking by the end of this year.
No Indian athlete since Independence has won multiple medals at a single Games.
Top seed Saina Nehwal breezed through her match as India's shuttlers had a successful outing in the individual badminton event at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday. World number three Saina thrashed Sarah Thomas of Wales 21-5, 21-9 to get closer to her first Commonwealth Games gold, while Melbourne bronze medallist Chetan Anand beat Nigeria's Ola Fagbemi 21-12, 21-6 in 21 minutes to stay on course to better his record at the sporting extravaganza.
India's rising shuttler attributed her defeat in the final of the World Junior badminton tournament to exhaustion.\n
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