Top junior shuttlers Guru Sai Dutt and Sikky Reddy ousted seeded rivals to enter the men's and women's singles quarter finals of the 1st Tata Open Prize Money All India Badminton tournament on Tuesday.
Shuttler N Sikki Reddy and physiotherapist Kiran C have tested positive for COVID-19 at the ongoing national camp, forcing the closure of the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad for sanitisation.
India's badminton doubles specialist N Sikki Reddy on Saturday heaved a sigh of relief after returning negative for COVID-19 barely two days after testing positive for the contagious disease, saying she was "shocked" by the not-so-kind reactions her initial result attracted.
On Friday, Supanida Katethong came out on top against Indian star PV Sindhu in an intense quarter-final battle in which the Thai shuttler emerged 24-26, 21-17, 22-20 winner in one hour and 17 minutes.
B Sumeeth Reddy, a member of the 2022 Commonwealth Games mixed team silver medal-winning squad, has announced his retirement as an active badminton player to focus entirely on coaching.
Indian combo of Pranaav Cherry Chopra and Sikki Reddy continued their rampaging run as they reached the mixed doubles semi-finals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix, in Almere, Netherlands, on Friday.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (women's doubles) and B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy (mixed doubles) suffered three-game defeats in their opening contests.
National camp to resume on Monday.
Pranaav and Sikki, who won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold title in Lucknow earlier this year, squandered the advantage of winning the opening game and went down 21-14, 15-21, 19-21 to the local pair of Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) shut down the world tour and other sanctioned tournaments following the completion of the All-England in March due to the global health crisis.
Top seeds, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy are just one step away from notching up their second Grand Prix title of the season as the duo reached the finals of $55,000 Scottish Open, in Glasgow on Saturday.
The duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy entered the mixed doubles second round but the other Indian shuttlers, including Priyanshu Rajawat, made early exits
Saina Nehwal and Sikki Reddy will clash in the girls' final of the Commonwealth Youth Games badminton tournament. In Thursday's semi-finals, Saina beat England's Panuga Riou 21-12, 21 10, while Sikki Reddy accounted for Malaysia's Tiffany Chase Currier, winning 21-16, 21-9.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra clinched their maiden Grand Prix title, bagging the Brazil Open with a straight games victory over Canadian combo of Toby Ng and Rachel Honderich at Foz do Iguacu in Brazil, on Sunday.
India's PV Sindhu fought her heart out before going down narrowly to Thailand's Supanida Katethong in the women's singles quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 badminton tournament in Madrid on Friday.
However, it was curtains for former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap after he went down 10-21 19-21 to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
Indian shuttlers Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Siril Verma notched up contrasting victories to reach the semifinals of the women's and men's singles events at the Russian Open Grand Prix, in Vladivostok, on Friday.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy scored a stunning straight games victory over world No. 18 Li Wenmei and Zheng Yu to make it to the second round in the women's doubles at the US $350,000 India Open, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
Indian shuttlers who competed at the Paris Olympics, including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, are giving the tournament, the year's final BWF Super 1000 event, a miss.
'Need a couple of upsets to win medal at Asian Games'
Ecstatic after clinching a maiden Grand Prix title at the Brazil Open, the Indian mixed doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra have set their sights on winning a medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The World No. 10 Prannoy was the latest to be eliminated on a day when Sameer Verma, mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy along with women singles player Aakarshi Kashyap drew blanks.
Verma beat his Taiwanese opponent 21-18, 21-14.
Star Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the men's singles quarterfinals of the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament with a straight-game victory over compatriot Ayush Shetty in the second round in Macau on Thursday.
India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy reached the second round but it was curtains for men's singles shuttlers at the Singapore Super Series, on Wednesday.
Lakshya Sen registered an easy 21-9, 21-15 win over Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in his pre-quarterfinal match.
Rajawat will take on eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand next.
The former world number one duo had been sidelined from competitive action post the Paris Olympics due to Satwik's shoulder injury.
The seasoned Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner Rohan Kapoor entered the second round in the mixed doubles on the opening day of the Syed Modi India International badminton event in Lucknow on Tuesday.
The 30-minute duel had some exciting moments as the two players fought hard for supremacy with Sindhu conceding a 4-2 lead to Zhang, who could only manage a one-point advantage at the break.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt and young B Sai Praneeth advanced to the main draw of Singapore Open Super Series.
The duo is aiming for top-30 ranking and continued success in bigger tournaments.
However, it was curtains for Kiran George in the men's singles event as he lost 20-22, 6-21 against seventh seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
P V Sindhu survived a scare before beating unheralded compatriot Ira Sharma in three games to enter the women's singles quarter-finals at the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament.
In mixed doubles, the husband-wife Indian pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy defeated Malaysia's Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien 21-17, 21-19.
This was Sameer's fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.
Malvika Bansod pulled off a sensational straight-game victory over Paris Olympics bronze medallist Gregoria Mariska Tanjong of Indonesia in the women's singles opening round.
Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a 13-21, 14-21, loss to Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama, while Aakarshi Kashyap went down 18-21, 10-21 to German Yvonne Li.
India will be sending full teams for the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold (May 30-June 4), Indonesia Open Super Series (June 12-18) and Australian Open Super Series (June 20-25).
Srikanth, Prannoy enter pre-quarters; Aakarshi knocked out