Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal created history on Saturday by becoming the first Indian singles player to reach the summit clash of the BWF Super Series Finals after defeating Tine Baun of Denmark during the semi-finals in Liuzhou in China.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
Saina Nehwal of India has won the Olympic bronze medal after Wang Xin of China retired with a left knee injury in the second game of their playoff on Saturday.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu marched into the women's quarter-finals but all the top four seeds, including defending champion P Kashyap, crashed out of the men's event in the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix in Lucknow.
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu and national champion K Srikanth continued their rampaging run with contrasting victories to reach the semi-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament in Lucknow.
Srikanth, now ranked five, was placed seventh before the Malaysia Open, where he lost his last-four clash to the reigning Asian champion Kento Momota.
If Sindhu and Saina win their respective second round matches, they will face each other in the quarter-finals.
India's best bet for a badminton medal at the Asian Games, Saina Nehwal, starts her campaign in the individual competitions at the Tianhe Gymnasium in Guangzhou on Wednesday.
Indian shuttler HS Prannoy grabbed his career-best world number 12 spot.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal rallied to register a scintilliating three-game victory over Shixian Wang of China to clinch her third Super Series title of the year at the Hong Kong Open in Wanchai on Sunday.
Satwik-Chirag pair achieves career-best world no. 2 ranking
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the second round of the women's singles at the Asian Games after steamrolling Lydia Cheah of Malaysia in the second round in Guangzhou on Wednesday.
It was heartbreak for India as ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Indian Open Super Series after a straight-game defeat to Japan's Ai Goto in the first round of the women's singles, in Delhi, on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal's brand value soars five times to Rs 30 lakh per endorsement.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal earned India its third medal at the London Games, clinching a bronze under fortuitous circumstances.
A wrong umpiring decision dashed P Kashyap's hopes of a maiden Commonwealth Games final but Saina Nehwal and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa assured India of silver medals after advancing to the finals of the badminton event in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal romped into the quarter-finals of the women's singles after notching a comfortable straight-game victory over Dutch Jie Yao in the London Olympics. The world No 5 Indian tired out the Dutch girl by engaging her in rallies and executing her strokes with perfection to emerge victorious 21-14, 21-16 in 40 minutes at the Wembley Arena.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal got off to a rousing start at the Olympics. She had things her way against Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet in the women's singles group stage match in London on Sunday. The world No 5 needed just 22 minutes to get past the 65-ranked Swiss, winning 21-9, 21-4, at the Wembley arena.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who has been training under Vimal Kumar for the last one week, wants the former chief coach to travel to Incheon, Korea with her for the upcoming Asian Games.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Indonesian Aprilia Yuswandari 21-17, 21-11 to set up a women's singles summit-clash with second seed Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia at the Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Chennai.
Saina Nehwal has become a strong medal prospect at the upcoming London Olympics after her dominating performanmce over the formidable Chinese players at the Indonesian Open, asserts nine-time national badminton champion and two-time Olympian Aparna Popat.
2023 was marked by outstanding sporting achievements, shattered records, and the crowning of new champions, all captured by photographers documenting every significant twist and turn.
Saina Nehwal endured a frustrating title drought but Indian badminton continued to move forward with the emergence of P V Sindhu as the next big sensation and the introduction of the ambitious Indian Badminton League this year.
Basking in the glory of a bronze medal at the London Olympics, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal says it was very tough for her to win the medal in a sport dominated by the Chinese.
An upset stomach ruined her campaign at the World Championship last week, but Saina Nehwal is not too upset at missing the bronze.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal clinched her second Super Series title, winning the Singapore Open with a straight-game triumph over qualifier Tzu Ying Tai in the final on Sunday. The top seed Indian ace needed just 33 minutes to beat Chinese Taipei's Tai 21-18, 21-15 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Indian shuttler HS Prannoy stunned reigning Olympic champion Lin Dan of China while Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap also crossed the opening hurdle to enter the second round of the USD 275,000 French Open Super Series.
Anup Sridhar beat Bangladesh's Mostafa Jabed Mohammad 21-3, 21-9 in the men's singles.
While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
Her eyes trained on the Chinese, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday revealed that long before winning the recently-held Swiss Open, she had to endure a difficult phase which, at times, even made her weep.
India's badminton sensation Saina Nehwal was Thursday declared the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for her stupendous show in 2009.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal hardly showed any fatigue from a recent bout of chickenpox as she stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of World Badminton Championships with a straight-game victory over Russian Anastasia Prokopenko in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Super Series badminton championship when she defeated German Juliane Schenk in straight games in the quarter-finals in London.
A much-anticipated second round meeting of India's top two women shuttlers, world No 1 Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, failed to materiliaze as the latter came a cropper in her opening match at the Japan Open Super Series badminton tournament, in Tokyo, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
