Raising hopes for a medal in next month's London Olympics, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal on Sunday won the Indonesia Open Super Series title after beating world number three Xuerui Li of China in a hard-fought summit clash in Jakarta.
Two-time champion Saina Nehwal demolished Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in straight games to storm into the final of the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton tournament for the fourth consecutive year in Jakarta on Saturday.
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.
Sindhu, seeded second, defeated local favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21, 21-7 in 37 minutes to make the last-eight stage of her season-opener, while eighth seed Srikanth recorded a clinical 21-14, 21-9 win over Japan's Asian Games bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto.
Indian shuttlers had a mixed day in the opening round of the China Open with Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu easing into Round II, while Kidambi Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram making early exits.
'I didn't really like the way media put it that I have demanded the award. Who am I to demand for the award? I am nobody. I just wanted to know why my name was not considered'
Despite clinching the Macau Open title for the third time, India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu remained static at 12th position in the latest BWF world ranking released on Thursday. Saina Nehwal also held on to her number two position but a poor run of form saw K Srikanth lose a spot and slip to World No. 9.
Saina Nehwal's struggle for form summed up a disappointing year for Indian Badminton, the rare high point of which was Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's World Championships bronze medal.
Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal stood just one win away from clinching her maiden China Open title after she stormed into the finals of the USD 700,000 Super Series Premier tournament in Fuzhou.
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.
Star shuttler Saina Nehwal will donate Rs 2 lakh for the people affected by the heavy rains and flood in Tamil Nadu.
India's Saina Nehwal lost to Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying 21-16, 18-21, 21-14 and was knocked out of the BWF World Superseries Final in Dubai on Friday.
Badminton is not as popular as cricket in India and therefore comparatively does not attract as many sponsors.
Shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa believes that the Indian contingent has a strong shot at changing the colour of the medal in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Still recovering from a foot injury and a recurring fever, defending champion Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the women's singles competition at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
PV Sindhu appears 'vulnerable' on the counter-attack and that is a big factor in her losing many a title clashes, including recent loss to Saina Nehwal in the singles final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, observed former India coach Vimal Kumar.
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.
Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth sailed into the semi-finals of the of the $ 120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold after registering a straight-game win over local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen in Bangkok on Friday.
India's two top women's singles shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, have decided to skip the upcoming China Masters Super Series to be held from September 10-15.
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.
National champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the semi-finals of the Singapore Open badminton tournament, beating Indonesia's Firdasari Adrianti 21-16, 20-22, 21-16 on Friday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will lose her world No. 1 ranking after her gallant fight against Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the semi-finals ended in heartbreak at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament.
Shraddha Kapoor is all set to essay Saina Nehwal in a biopic based on the badminton champion's life that will be directed by Amole Gupte and produced by Bhushan Kumar.
India's campaign in the women's singles of the $350,000 Hong Kong Super Series came to an end after ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was stunned by Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals.
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.
Scheduled to be held in Denmark from October 3 to 11, the Thomas and Uber Cup will mark the resumption of international badminton after it was brought to a halt in March because of the dreaded virus.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, praised Saina Nehwal after the ace Indian female shuttler suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the final of the All England badminton championships.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand remained tightlipped about his split with Saina Nehwal, saying he doesn't want to talk about the issue as the Asian Games is just round the corner.
Saina Nehwal crashed out of the All England Championship after her gallant fight against World No. 3 Korean Sung Ji Hyun ended with a narrow 20-22, 20-22 loss in the women's singles quarter-finals of the Super Series Premier event in Birmingham.
Fourth seeded Sindhu took 39 minutes to get the better of World No 22 Mia 21-13, 21-19, her second straight win over the Dane.
The 29-year-old Olympic bronze medallist and World No 9 went down 16-21, 23-21, 4-21 to her 19-year-old opponent in the women's singles match.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal regained the No 1 position in the international rankings after China's Li Xuerui dropped a couple of rungs to third in the latest list, issued on Friday.
Saina Nehwal defeated China's Sun Yu 11-21, 21-14, 21-19 to clinch her second Australian Open Grand Prix Gold title.
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.
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.
India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, on Wednesday, suffered shocking first-round exits from the Malaysia Open Super Series in Kuching.
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.
Saina Nehwal staged a scintillating comeback to beat reigning world champion Carolina Marin and retain the women's singles title at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
