Hyderabad Hotshots, spearheaded by Indian badminton icon Saina Nehwal, brought down the high-flying, unbeaten Pune Pistons with a comprehensive 4-1 victory in the Indian Badminton League, at the NSCI courts, in Mumbai.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next play seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, who knocked out two-time defending champion Spain's Carolina Marin 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 in the other quarter-final.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal said 2018 was a tough year for Indian badminton as players hardly got any breaks to recover between tournaments.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
The 27-year-old London Olympics bronze medallist hard broke a sweat as she cruised past her Swiss opponent 21-11, 21-12 in just 33 minutes at the Emirates Arena.
Satwik-Chirag pair achieves career-best world no. 2 ranking
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap along with two other Indians sailed into the second round of the Denmark Super Series Premier with contrasting wins in the opening round, but it was curtains for P V Sindhu in Odense on Wednesday.
Fifth seed Sindhu will now look to avenge her All England loss against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, whom she faces next, while Srikanth will meet Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab on Thursday.
Crowned the world number one, Saina Nehwal celebrated her numero uno status with a straight-game demolition of Japanese Yui Hashimoto, while Kidambi Srikanth too saw off Xue Song of China to reach their maiden finals at the Yonex Sunrise India Super Series.
Wrestler Babita Phogat congratulated the Hyderabad police department for what they did, saying that it will make every woman in the country really proud.
On an extremely bad for India at the Denmark Open, top seed Saina Nehwal suffered a shock second round defeat while Kidambi Srikanth also failed to clear the second round in men's singles of the $650,000 Super Series Premier event, in Odense on Thursday.
Earlier, BWF and Badminton England had delayed the start of the event by a couple of hours following a 'significant number' of inconclusive COVID-19 test results.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu got off to winning starts in their season, notching up straight-game victories in their respective opening round women's singles matches in the $500,000 Malaysia Super Series Premier on Wednesday.
Sindhu and Saina will once again be India's best bet as they look to put up a good show this week.
Sindhu now leads 3-0 against the Chinese on head-to-head.
Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narendra Batra feels Sports Ministry should allow the parents of star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal to accompany them at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Asked about Saina Nehwal, whose 2012 London Games bronze medal winning show was a path breaker for Indian women's badminton, Padukone is confident that the 26-year-old former World number one will be regain her best form.
Kidambi Srikanth scored a stunning straight-games victory over world No. 4 Lee Zii Jia but Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Osaka, on Wednesday.
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched straight-game victories to progress to the quarter-finals, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the US $700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday.
Indian teen sensation P V Sindhu made sure of a second consecutive bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal after she was beaten in straight games in the women's singles quarter-finals at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen on Friday.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal led India to the quarter-finals of Uber Cup with a crushing 4-1 victory over Hong Kong but it was curtains for their male counterparts in the Thomas Cup after they lost to Korea 2-3 in New Delhi.
Krishna and Vishnu had paired for the first time in this event and would be pleased with the results they managed.
Marin retained the world title with a 21-16, 21-19 win over the Indian ace.
Meet the heroes from the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
India's top doubles badminton player Jwala Gutta on Wednesday hit out at singles star Saina Nehwal for her comments that Taufik Hidayat should accept the reality that he is a retired player and cannot get highest base price in the Indian Badminton League.
The World No 6 will next face Spain's Pablo Abian on Wednesday.
Indian women's badminton team assured itself of at least a bronze medal after notching a comfortable 3-1 win over Thailand in the quarter-finals of the Uber Cup, in Kunshan, on Thursday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances