Saina Nehwal defeated Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in straight games to advance to the semi-finals of the World Super Series Masters Finals in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Friday.
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal tells us about her preparation for the Beijing Olympics.
Parupalli Kashyap created history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the men's singles quarter-finals and Saina Nehwal too powered her way into the last-eight stage even as archer Deepika Kumari flopped miserably at the Olympics.
The second seed Indian was beaten by China's Wen Cheng in the third round.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar said he welcomed the Sports Ministry's decision to recommend Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal's name for the Padma Bhushan.
H S Prannoy outwitted World No 2 and title favourite Kidambi Srikanth in a thrilling final to win the men's singles title at the 82nd Senior National Championship, in Nagpur on Wednesday.
After guiding Hyderabad Hotshots to the inaugural Indian Badminton League title, Saina Nehwal has cited fatigue and will skip the Japan Open Super Series tournament.
Returning to action after nearly two months, Saina, who made last-minute withdrawals from Indonesia Open and last week's Japan Open because of injuries, got past Chaiwan 21-17, 21-19 in her opening round contest.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Super Series Premier with a straight-game thrashing of Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in the second round of the women's singles.
This was Sindhu's second consecutive loss to Tzu Ying. Saina was no match for Carolina Marin, who took exactly half-an-hour to dispose of the Indian's challenge, beating her 8-21, 7-21.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal beat fourth seed Hongyan Pi of France 21-18, 21-13 in a 34-minute contest to keep her hopes of advancing to the semi-finals of the World Super Series Badminton Masters finals alive.
No Indian athlete since Independence has won multiple medals at a single Games.
Saina Nehwal made a disappointing return from injury, suffering a shock defeat to Japan's Sayaka Sato in the second round of the women's singles at the Korean Super Series in Seoul on Thursday. The world No 4 Indian was beaten by Sayaka 21-17, 19-21, 11-21 in 53 minutes. P Kashyap was also a second round casualty after losing 16-21, 13-21 to third seed Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark in 38 minutes, in the men's singles.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal sailed into the second round of the Singapore Open with straight-game wins over their respective rivals in the women's singles event on Wednesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap slipped out of the top-10 bracket but Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal continued to hold on to her second position in the latest World badminton ranking issued in New Delhi.
India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal has split with National coach Pullela Gopichand and sought the help of former chief coach Vimal Kumar to prepare for the prestigious Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the knock-out stage of the women's singles competition at the London Olympics after notching a comfortable victory over Belgium's Lianne Tan in a group stage match on Monday. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa stunned world No 10 Yu Chin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei 25-23, 16-21, 21-18.
India's campaign came to a premature halt in the All-England Badminton Championship when ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was thrashed by Chinese Shixian Wang in the quarter-finals of the women's singles in Birmingham on Friday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal sealed a semi-final spot after a hard-fought victory but compatriot P V Sindhu crumbled under pressure to bow out of the women's singles competition at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier tournament, in Shah Alam, on Friday.
Competition at the Commonwealth Games will not be as tough as the World Championship but the ever-on-her-guard Saina Nehwal prefers not to take anything for granted as she feels even one bad shot can derail her gold medal bid at the Delhi Games.
Two-time champion Saina Nehwal scored a hard-fought victory, but it was Parupalli Kashyap who created a flutter by stunning top seed Chen Long of China in straight games to make the last eight in the Indonesia Super Series in Jakarta on Thursday.
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal, who recently won the Indonesian Open, on what it takes to be a champion.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal inched closer to retaining her women's singles title, while other top Indian shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, also made it to the semi-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for the Woman Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation after a consistent season which saw her occupy the world number one spot for a brief period.
For all her achievements, says Bikash Mohapatra, Saina is yet to win either the Worlds, Olympics or All England, badminton's flagship events.
Defending champion Lakshya Sen looked in fine fettle as he registered a straight-game win over compatriot H S Prannoy to make a winning start to his title defence at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
The London Olympics bronze medallist was trailing 4-10 in the opening game when Marin decided to withdraw from the contest.
Rio Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu jumped two places to achieve her career-best ranking of seven, while Saina Nehwal was also back in the top 10, in the latest BWF World Ranking.
India's shuttlers enjoyed a mixed day at the Australian Open Super Series as Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth progressed to the second round but four others were knocked out in the first round itself, in Sydney, on Wednesday.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal snapped her 15-month title drought, clinching the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton crown with a straight-game victory over compatriot P V Sindhu in the women's singles competition in Lucknow on Sunday.
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal topped her group to march into the women's singles semi-finals while Kidambi Srikanth reached the last four stage despite losing his last men's singles round robin match at the BWF World Super Series Finals in Dubai on Friday.
Ace shuttler PV Sindhu, the first Indian woman to bag a silver medal at the Olympics, is the latest athlete whose story is set to be portrayed at the big screen.
Chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, sprint queen P T Usha and football legend Bhaichung Bhutia are among the prominent sports personalities invited for Monday's ceremony.
Back in action after recovering from a knee injury, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she needs good match practice to be at her best in the prestigious All England Championship in March. "I am happy with my improvement. My movements are still sluggish. I still need good match practice," she told reporters here late last night after losing to top-ranked shuttler Carolina Marin in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) match. Saina had sustained an intra-articular injury (inside the joint) in her right knee and had lost in the group stage in the Rio Olympics. She later underwent a surgery and was on rehab.
The top seeded Indian duo, who reached the semi-finals of the season-opening Malaysia Open super 1000, was scheduled to face Chinese Taipei's Su Ching Heng and Ye Hong Wei in the opening round.
While Saina made short work of USA's Beiwan Zhang, second seed Sindhu had to dig deep to get the better of Japanese Sayaka Sato.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Defending champion Saina Nehwal and World number five Kidambi Srikanth were among the nine Indian shuttlers who entered the quarter-finals of the singles events at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
She might be in red-hot form after her recent title wins but ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal feels past record won't matter when she begins her campaign in the World Badminton Championship in Paris on Tuesday.
