Saina and Busanan engaged in some long rallies but it was the Thai shuttler who had the last laugh
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.
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.
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.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
India's rising shuttler attributed her defeat in the final of the World Junior badminton tournament to exhaustion.\n
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.
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.
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.
The Indian ace beat Soratja Chansrisukot of Thailand at the Hong Open badminton championships.
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.
Saina Nehwal beat Ai Goto to become the first Indian woman to reach the final in a four-star event in badminton
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal started her season on a winning note, dispatching little known German Nicole Grether in straight games to enter the second round of Malaysian Super Series badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and Olympian Anup Sridhar advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series even as three other Indians were shown the door on Wednesday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal survived some anxious moments before getting past qualifier Maja Tvrdy of Slovenia in a thrilling three-game opening tie at the Singapore Open Super Series on Wednesday.
She clinched three individual titles and a couple of bronze medals at prestigious team events this season but far from satiated, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal feels she could have garnered more trophies had it not been for some missed opportunities.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal survived a scare from lower-ranked Japanese Nozomi Okuhara to advance to the semi-finals of the women's singles in the Malaysian Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. The top seeded Indian lost the second game 14-21, after winning the first 21-11, but with Nozomi retiring early in the third, she cemented a place into the last four.
The 16-year-old Indian badminton ace will meet China's Wen Cheng, at the Asian Junior championships.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Defending champion Saina Nehwal got off to a flying start at the Indonesian Open Super Series, beating Bulgaria's Linda Zecheri in straight games, in Jakarta, on Wednesday. The fourth seeded Indian took just 29 minutes to get past the unseeded Zechiri, winning 21-12, 21-10.
Star shuttler Saina Nehwal lit up another gloomy day for India at the Olympic Games by storming her way into the women's singles semi-finals while shooting medal hope Ronjan Sodhi fell by the wayside on Thursday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the quarter-finals with a straight games win, but Chetan Anand bit the dust in the singles event of the Malaysian Super Series tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a scare from Hye Youn Hwang of Korea before reaching the semi-finals of the Indonesian Open Super Series in Jakarta on Friday. The world No 8 Indian ace beat the 18th-ranked Hwang 21-7, 13-21, 21-15 in a tough women's singles quarter-final that lasted 45 minutes. Sixth-seed Saina next faces seventh seeded Chinese Lan Lu in the Saturday's semi-finals.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu stormed into the women's singles second round at the Swiss Open with a straight-game win over Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt in Basel.
The Indian ace, who attained a career-best No 1 after winning the India Open at the end of March, dropped a rung in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday. Defeat in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier to reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China saw the London Olympics bronze medallist drop to No 2.
Saina Nehwal outclassed her Korean rival Jang Soo Young 21-9, 21-14 to win the Indian International badminton tournament.
India's Saina Nehwal bowed out of the Yonex Korea Super Series losing to Indonesia's Adrianti Firdasari in the second round, while mixed doubles duo of V Diju and Gwala Gutta upset the top seed to move into the quarter-finals in Seoul on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal was stunned by Germany's Juliane Schenk in the women's singles semifinals, as India's campaign came to an end in the Japan Open Super Series badminton tournament in Tokyo on Saturday.
