World number one Saina Nehwal disposed off Nichaon Jindapon's challenge in straight games, but PV Sindhu crashed out of the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament after a close first-round defeat, in Jakarta, on Wednesday. In the men's singles, both the Indians in the fray -- Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth -- advanced to the second round with contrasting victories.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal opens her campaign in the India Open World Super Series tournament against Asian Games bronze medallist Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong. The event, which begins in Delhi on April 24, will double up as the final qualifying meet for the London Olympics.
Saina Nehwal is a 'champion material' and in another three years, India can look forward to seeing a world number one in the Hyderabadi youngster, said legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone. Padukone, a former All England champion, pointed out that 17-year-old Saina has most of the qualities a champion needs -- physical, technical, mental and self-belief.
Fresh from her maiden Denmark Open title triumph, India ace Saina Nehwal started her French Open Super Series campaign in style, registering a hard-fought win over China's Li Han in women's singles event in Paris.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal touched a new high on Thursday as she zoomed into the top-five of the world rankings at a career-best fifth spot following her stupendous show in the All England Badminton Championships earlier this month.
Saina Nehwal bounced back from a game down to beat Yoshimi Hataya in the second round of the Yonex Korea Open.
India's leading shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out of the All-England badminton championships, losing to China's Li Xuerui in the quarter-finals in Birmingham on Friday.
Saina Nehwal's preparation for the 2012 London Games received a shot in the arm on Saturday with the ace shuttler signing a contract with Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ).
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal won her second match to keep her semi-final hopes alive while the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju also tasted victory to stay afloat in the World Super Series Masters Final in Johor Bahru, Malaysia on Thursday.
Far from mourning the end of her brief reign as the World No 1, shuttler Saina Nehwal is happy.
After the high of last week's Chinese Taipei Open triumph, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal hit a low as she crashed out of the Japan Super series Badminton tournament with a straight-game defeat in the first round in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Lakshya Sen and Saina Nehwal made impressive starts at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament, advancing to the second round of men's and women's singles respectively with contrasting victories in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal shrugged off the disappointment of last week's Japan Open debacle and spanked Japanese Ai Goto in straight games to cruise into the quarter-finals of the China Masters Super Series in Changzhou, China, on Thursday. India's 18-year-old national champion won a lop-sided contest, that lasted just 21 minutes, 21-12, 21-10.
Sindhu pens thoughts, Saina enjoys evening at beach
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a scare from lower-ranked Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand before reaching the second round of the All England Championship in Birmingham.
The Tata Open badminton championship received a setback after Beijing-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal deciding to skip the event to be held in Mumbai from Sunday. With the Olympics just two weeks away, Anup, who strained his ankle last week during a practice session, opted out of the tournament as a precautionary measure before the Beijing Games.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal advanced to the semi-finals of the All-England Badminton Championships with a hard-fought victory over sixth seeded Chinese Shixian Wang on Friday. The second seeded Indian ace, who got the better of Belaetrix Manuputi of Indonesia in the previous round, won 23-21, 19-21, 21-16 in 30 minutes.
As the season is drawing to a close, Saina Nehwal would look to end the Super Series title drought when the Denmark Open gets underway at Odense with the qualifiers on Tuesday.
The quarter-final ouster in World Championship is a thing of past for ace shuttler Saina Nehwal whose only target is now to clinch a medal for the country in next month's Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will return to Great Britain with a renewed hope of clinching the prestigious All England title but a tough draw awaits her in the women's singles of the Super Series Premier event, which starts with the qualifiers in Birmingham on Tuesday.
India's Saina Nehwal breezed into the women's singles World Badminton Championships final after beating local girl Lindaweni Fanetri in Jakarta, on Saturday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who won five major titles last year, has been voted as the third best Badminton Player of the Year 2010 by readers of an international magazine in a recent poll.
P V Sindhu on Monday said she received congratulatory message from chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand but she has not got any such gesture yet from senior shuttler Saina Nehwal following her bronze medal winning feat at the Tokyo Olympics.
Seasoned Indian ace Saina Nehwal and the fast-rising H S Prannoy notched up contrasting wins in the women's and men's singles competition respectively to reach the All England badminton championships' second round at Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.
Saina Nehwal and reigning champion Sameer Verma were a step away from clinching the men's and women's singles titles respectively
Saina Nehwal scored a hard-fought victory over Eriko Hirose of Japan to enter the quarter-finals in the women's singles at the Singapore Super Series.
Riding on her stupendous performance in the Sudirman Cup, ace Indian women shuttler Saina Nehwal has climbed up three places to the seventh spot in the latest ranking issued by the Badminton World Federation. Saina, who was ranked 10 before the start of the tournament in Guangzhou, won all her four matches and now has a total of 58454.4 rating points in her kitty.
Far from mourning the end of her brief reign as the world number one, shuttler Saina Nehwal is happy that she at least made it to where no other non-Chinese could reach in the last four years.
Red is clearly not Saina Nehwal's colour. For her engagement too, she looked stunning in a powder blue and pink lehenga.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal exited from the China Masters Super Series, but the top mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju kept the tricolour fluttering after a thrilling victory to advance to the semi-finals at Changzhou on Friday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was the lone bright spot for India, entering the semi-finals of the Asian Badminton Championships in Delhi even as all other Indians crashed out in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Saina Nehwal was forced to retire midway through her opening match but India's young brigade produced a clinical display to notch up a fine 3-2 win over Spain and get off to a winning start in the Uber Cup in Aarhus, on Sunday.
Parupalli Kashyap went down fighting to former World No. 1 Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in the first round of the men's singles event in what turned out to be a mixed day for the Indians at the Yonex Sunrise India Open in New Delhi.
India's highest ranked shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand crashed out of the All England badminton tournament after suffering contrasting defeats in the first round of the Super series event in London on Wednesday.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a loss in the second round, going down fighting 23-21, 8-21, 17-21 to sixth seeded Indonesian pair of Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii.
India shuttler Saina Nehwal is now looking for an 'even better' outing in the coming year besides getting ready to try her hand in coaching.
Saina Nehwal dug deep for a fighting win over Thai rival Ratchanok Intanon while Kidambi Srikanth too continued his good run to make the semifinals of the $ 750,000 Australian Super Series Badminton tournament.
Saina Nehwal bagged her first title of the year, clinching the Swiss Open Grand Prix gold trophy with a straight-games victory over Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in the final in Switzerland on Sunday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal remained on course for her second title of the season as she reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold with a straight-games victory over Sapsiree Taerattanachai in Bangkok on Friday.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal inched closer to a third successive Indonesian Open Super Series title after advancing to the finals with a hard-fought victory over Chinese Taipei's Shao Chieh Cheng in Jakarta on Saturday.
