P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth continued their impressive run at the Malaysia Open, progressing to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles competition with a straight-game wins in the US$ 700,000 world tour super 750 tournament, in Kuala Lumpur.
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.
The Olympic silver medallist will now face Korea's An Se Young next.
India's first world badminton champion P V Sindhu said her next aim is to bag the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
She is just two points behind leader Veronika Major of Hungary, who shot an aggregate of 592 (294 and 298) which helped her equal the Olympic record.
H S Prannoy stunned World No 10 Kanta Tsuneyama while ace Indian women shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal also sailed into the second round of the Malaysia Masters, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. World Championships bronze-medallist B Sai Praneeth and the seasoned Kidambi Srikanth, though, bowed out of the men's singles events.
Being hounded by eager selfie seekers is something that top level sportspersons are used to but Saina Nehwal's father and PV Sindhu's mother had a surprise 'fan' waiting for them outside the World Badminton Championship venue.
India's badminton queen PV Sindhu revealed that working with new coach Kim Ji Hyun along with the guidance from Pullela Gopichand has been instrumental in taking her game to the next level.
Sindhu, who had finished runners-up at the last edition in Dubai, will have a tough task at hand as she has been clubbed with defending champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei and USAs' Beiwen Zhang in Group A.
Rinku Singh picked for second round as top stars leave for Test series against Bangladesh. Mayank Agarwal has been named as India A captain in Gill's place.
Once labelled mild and fragile, P V Sindhu has undergone an astounding transformation at Pullela Gopichand Academy - a mix and match of different exercises, on-court training and yoga that make up Sindhu's days, most of which begin with her starting practice at 4:15 am -- that is helping her slay the world's best, writes Nikita Puri
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu continued her unbeaten run while debutant Sameer Verma also qualified for the knockout stage with a straight-game win in his last Group B match at the BWF World Tour Finals.
Sindhu said she is working on her technique to iron out the flaws.
World No. 3 Sindhu thrashed Yamaguchi 21-9, 21-13 in just 36 minutes to top Group A in women's singles at the Sheikh Hamdan Indoor Stadium. This was her last group stage match.
'Let us see the tricolour flutter and soar as we park our vehicles, as we play cricket in the gullies, as we surf the Internet, as we enter our places of worship,' says Ankita Athawale.
The Olympic silver-medallist, who out-played Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in a lop-sided final in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday, was mobbed at the airport after she touched down, with national coach Pullela Gopichand by her side, late on Monday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu yet again struggled to go past China's He Bingjiao and bowed out of the China Open World Tour Super 750, in Fozhou, on Friday.
20-year-old Malvika Bansod, ranked 111th, took 34 minutes to register a straight games victory against former World No 1 Saina Nehwal.
Sindhu was "angry and sad" after being criticised for not finishing on top in the last two World Championship finals and the gold medal in the 2019 edition was her answer to all her critics.
Former India football captain Baichung Bhutia was given the Lifetime Achievement award, while hockey legend and three-time Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Sr was honoured with the Icon of the Century award.
The Indian challenge ended at the $1,250,000 Indonesian Open after PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy suffered straight-game quarter-final defeats to crash out of the BWF World Super 1000 tournament in Jakarta.
The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag and Rinku Singh will get another opportunity to enhance their red-ball credentials when the final round of Duleep Trophy matches begin in Anantapur
India's top players, including P V Sindhu, may not be going through the best of times, but national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand is still hopeful of a best-ever Olympics outing in Tokyo. Gopichand has produced two Olympic medallists -- Saina Nehwal (bronze in 2012) and Sindhu (silver in 2016).
The Indian won 21-7 21-7 in the summit clash that lasted just 38 minutes.
Ace shuttler PV Sindhu, the first Indian woman to bag a silver medal at the Olympics, is the latest athlete whose story is set to be portrayed at the big screen.
While Olympic and two-time World Championship silver medallist, Sindhu stamped her authority with a 21-12, 21-15 win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the second round, Srikanth got the better off Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in a three-game match.
BAI cancels preparatory camp.
"It is a great win and a fantastic start to the season for me. I have been playing well and I was confident of winning ahead of the final," said PV Sindhu.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand admitted to crammed BWF itinerary causing a problem but at the same time believes that onus is on a player of PV Sindhu's calibre to adapt to the calendar instead of complaining about it. Apart from the World Championships gold, Sindhu failed to win any other tournament last year.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered another heart-wrenching defeat against World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to finish as runner-up at the Dubai Super Series Final in Dubai on Sunday.
Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu proved once again how Macau Open Grand Prix is her favourite hunting ground.
Verma who had shocked Malaysia's eighth seed Lee Zii Jia in the opening round, needed just 39 minutes to see off Gemke
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu is just one step away from clinching her maiden Super Series Premier title having reached the final of the China Open after registering a come-from-behind win over Korea Sung Ji Hyun at the $700,000 tournament in Fuzhou, China, on Saturday.
Indian Ace shuttler PV Sindhu suffered a crushing defeat against World No 3 Carolina Marin in the quarter-finals of the of the Singapore Open Superseries tournament on Friday.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are training at separate academies of national coach Pullela Gopichand ever since their epic Commonwealth Games summit clash
Reputations, especially in Bollywood, took a beating when people such as Tanushree Dutta and Vinta Nanda named Nana Patekar and Alok Nath for alleged misconduct years ago.
P V Sindhu on Sunday said the heart-breaking World Championship final loss was not on her mind when she was plotting the downfall of Japan's Nozomi Okuhara en-route to her Korea Open title in Seoul.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
From Virat Kohli to PV Sindhu and Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam among others flooded Twitter and Instagram with throwback photos with their mums.
India's top shuttlers including Olympic medallist P V Sindhu train under national coach P Gopichand in Hyderabad.
