In a bid to keep herself fit for the packed international schedule this year, Indian shuttler P V Sindhu will not be defending her women's singles title at the $120,000 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament to be held at Johor Bahru from March 25-30.
The parents of P V Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman singles player on Friday to ensure a medal at the ongoing World Badminton Championships, attributed their daughter's success to hard work and determination.
China and Indonesia won the Badminton Asia Team Championships in the women and men's categories respectively at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal bowed out of the $250,000 India Open Super Series after a straight games defeat to world No 2 Yihan Wang in the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the Siri Fort complex in Delhi on Friday.
Saina Nehwal has gained a place to be fifth in the latest Badminton World Federation women's singles rankings released on Thursday.
India's up-and-coming shuttler P V Sindhu came up with a brilliant performance to shock defending champion Yihan Wang of China and join Saina Nehwal in the women's singles quarter-finals at the World Badminton Championships, at the Tianhe Indoor stadium in Guangzhou, China, on Thursday. Parupalli Kashyap also kept the Indian flag flying in the men's singles, scoring an upset 21-13, 21-16 victory over world No 6 Yun Hu of Hong Kong, in 37 minutes, to also make it to the last eight stage.
India's leading shuttlers P V Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and Anand Pawar got off to winning starts in the singles event at the US $125,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold tournament in Basel on Wednesday.
Parupalli Kashyap surprised world No. 5 Son Wan Ho in straight games to enter the men's singles quarter-finals at the Indonesian Open Super Series, but Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after losing to a lower-ranked opponent, in Jakarta, on Thursday.
Images of the gold medallists on Day 8 at the London Olympics.
India's up-and-coming shuttler P V Sindhu created history by becoming first Indian women's singles player to be assured a World Championship medal as she entered the semi-finals.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton.
Young Indian shuttler K Srikanth clinched his maiden Super Series title after defeating two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China in the men's singles of the $700,000 China Open Super Series Premier, in Fuzhou, China, on Sunday.
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.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued their winning run at the Malaysia Open notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition at the USD 550,000 Super Series Premier tournament.
China shrugged off badminton's biggest Olympic scandal to sweep all five titles at London four years ago but the Asian super-power is trying to keep a lid on expectations of another bumper gold medal haul at the Rio de Janeiro Games. The peerless team that set up the 'Great Haul of China' in London will line up almost unchanged at Rio, anchored by men's singles great Lin Dan and women's champion Li Xuerui. So strong were the Chinese in 2012 that they swept the titles without the reigning world champion women's doubles pairing of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, who were expelled from the tournament in disgrace.
Twice World Championships bronze medalist P V Sindhu ran out of steam and was beaten by Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the quarter-finals of badminton's showpiece event, in Jakarta, on Friday. The 20-year-old from Hyderabad, who had beaten Olympic champion and former world No 1 Li Xuerui of China in the previous round on Thursday, lost 17-21, 21-19, 21-16 in 82 minutes.
Saina Nehwal was made to sweat by American Beiwen Zhang before making it to the women's singles quarter-finals in the All-England Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Thursday night. The seventh seeded Indian ace needed an hour to quell the challenge of the American qualifier 24-22, 18-21, 21-19 in a second round match.
Parupalli Kashyap came up with a brilliant performance to shock world No 7 Zhengming Wang of China in the US $250,000 India Super Series badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Wednesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap suffered a major blow to his Olympic qualification hopes when he retired hurt midway through the German Open pre-quarterfinals at Mulheim an der Ruhr on Thursday.
Take a look at what fit-again Saina needs to do before going into the Olympic Games in August this year.
Croatian wunderkind Borna Coric offered emphatic proof of his potential when he crushed Rafael Nadal in the Swiss Indoor tournament on Friday before local hero Roger Federer cruised into the last four.