In-form PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to break new grounds as they spearhead India's charge for an elusive gold at the 18th Asian Games badminton event which begins with the team competitions, in Jakarta, on Sunday.
Newly-crowned Korea Open champion P V Sindhu dished out another splendid performance edging past Japan's Minatsu Mitani for the second time in as many weeks to reach the second round of the women's singles at the Japan Open Super Series, in Tokyo, on Wednesday.
PV Sindhu finally fetched India its first ever World Championships gold in the sport but spent rest of the year struggling for form.
In the women's singles match, Sindhu brought some smiles back in the Indian camp after seeing off Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-15, 19-21, 21-13, setting up a clash with Japan's Aya Ohori on the eve of her 23rd birthday on Thursday.
India's hopes of winning a medal in badminton team events at the 18th Asian Games went up in smoke after the men's and women's sides bowed out of the competition following identical 1-3 defeats in the quarter-finals in Jakarta on Monday.
India is being represented by 487 athletes in more than 15 disciplines.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Asian Games medallist Tintu Luka ruled the track on the final day of competition at the 35th National Games, smashing an 18-year-old meet record to win the 800 metres gold before inspiring Kerala to the 4x400m title in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
P V Sindhu cemented her position as a dominant force on the world stage with an Olympic silver medal while Saina Nehwal continued to battle with injuries in a year, which saw Indian badminton take giant strides at the global platform. It turned out to be a watershed year for Sindhu, who reached the upper echelons of world badminton with a silver medal at Rio Games -- an achievement also for her mentor and chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who became the only Indian coach to produce two Olympic medallists. On the other hand, for the first part of the year, it was Saina's battle with injuries which dominated the headlines even though she was considered to be the best bet for India at Rio. The Indian ace fought against time to recover from an Achilles tendons and went on to win the Australian Super Series.
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
Experienced drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh returned to India's men's hockey team, which also features debutant Jaskaran Singh, for the tour of Australia, starting May 10.
Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra today said that the country should aim to win 'double digit' medals at the Tokyo Olympics
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki N Reddy also won their mixed doubles first round match, beating Denmark's Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 10-21, 21-16, 21-17.
The Indian men's team beat a depleted China 3-2 at the Badminton Asia Team Championships at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad
Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when the seventh India Super Series badminton tournament gets underway with the qualifiers in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was the only bright spot in what turned out to be a dismal day for the Indian badminton team as it crashed out of the prestigious Sudirman Cup after a 1-4 loss to three-time champions Korea in a Group 1D tie, in Dongguan China, on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
India will take on traditional powerhouse China in the final match on Wednesday.
Glasgow World Championship bronze medallist Saina got the better of two-time World champion Marin 22-20, 21-18 and in the process avenged her second round defeat to the Spanish ace at the Japan Open.
The Indian badminton team went down fighting against hosts South Korea (1-3) in the women's team badminton semi-finals to settle for their maiden bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon on Sunday.
Virat Kohli sent the shutterbugs into a clicking frenzy as he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
PV Sindhu had to dig deep to down a fighting Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam but Saina Nehwal did not break any sweat as India's top two shuttlers advanced to the women's singles second round at the 18th Asian Games, in Jakarta, on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced into the second round while Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth made first-round exits at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal guided the Indian women's team to a crushing 5-0 win over Canada to launch their Uber Cup campaign in style but their men's counterpart came a cropper against former champions Malaysia as they suffered a crushing 1-4 defeat in Thomas Cup in New Delhi.
After losing seven successive finals, PV Sindhu finally redeemed herself with the gold medal at the World Tour Finals.
From the boxing ring to the shooting range to the athletics arena, it was India shining on the penultimate day of the 21st Commonwealth Games where the country claimed its biggest single-day haul of the ongoing edition, ensnaring eight gold medals across five disciplines.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
India badminton team have been accorded the top seed this time and are clubbed with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Scotland in Group A.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
P V Sindhu opens her campaign in the China Open women's singles against Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia, in Fuzhou, China, on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
V K Vismaya stunned her fancied opponents, M R Poovamma and Hima Das, to win the gold medal in the women's 400m race at the Indian Grand Prix-3, in Sangrur, on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
But the Indian mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan suffered a close 18-21, 21-10, 22-24, loss to Russian pair of Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova, while another pair of Tarun Kona and Sikki N Reddy too went down 13-21, 17-21 against Liao Min Chun and Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei.
PV Sindhu survived a scare against Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi before prevailing 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 in a thrilling singles match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes.
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