Kidambi Srikanth, the centre of attention in the Rio Olympics on Wednesday, can take heart from Hyderabad city mate P V Sindhu for his men's singles quarter-final clash against Chinese badminton icon Lin Dan.
Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu stayed on course for an elusive gold medal, while Laskhya Sen entered his maiden final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday.
The star Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be the key attraction in the men's doubles category. However, they are set to face a stiff competition as the line-up includes the three-time world champion and world No. 2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan alongside another Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who are currently ranked eighth in the world.
Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals with an easy straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori
The sixth seed and world No. 6 Indian needed 42 minutes to get the better of Beiwin Zhang of the United States, ranked eight places below her, 21-14, 21-17.
PM Modi met in person and interacted with the badminton squad
Kidambi Srikanth entered the final of the $120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship after he got the better of compatriot Ajay Jayaram in an all-India last-four clash in Basel on Saturday.
Top shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, are likely to leave for Malaysia and Singapore via Doha to participate in the last two Olympic qualifiers next month due to travel bans imposed by the two countries in the wake of unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases in India.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth's wretched run continued as he went down 6-21, 17-21 to fellow-Indian Ajay Jayaram, diminishing his hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth fought their hearts out before suffering close defeats in their respective group 'B' openers at the US$ 1.5 million HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, in Bangkok, on Wednesday.
With this victory, Axelsen enjoys a 3-2 head-to-head lead over Srikanth in five meetings, having won the last three duels.
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.
Fifth seed Sindhu will now look to avenge her All England loss against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, whom she faces next, while Srikanth will meet Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab on Thursday.
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stayed on course to reclaim titles while a vintage Parupalli Kashyap too regained some form to seal places in the men's singles semi-finals of the US $350,000 India Open badminton, in Delhi, on Friday.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his fine form to enter the men's singles semi-finals but Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu bowed out of the Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney, on Friday.
World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth overcame some stiff resistance in the second game from lower ranked Mexican rival Lino Munoz before winning his Group H clash in straight games in the badminton singles event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday night.
Ace Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, had a disappointing start to their campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals as they suffered straight-game defeats on the opening day of the prestigious event in Dubai.
If Saina manages to go past Okuhara, the Indian might run into fourth seed Carolina Marin, who is placed in her half of the draw.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
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.
Kidambi Srikanth is against any drastic changes in the scoring system being contemplated by the world body.
Defending champions India sailed to the knockout stage of the Thomas Cup with a 5-0 rout of England.
India ace Kidmabi Srikanth clinched his third Super Series Premier title with a dominating straight-game victory over Korean veteran Lee Hyun II in a lop-sided final of the US $750,000 Denmark Open, in Odense, on Sunday.
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
P V Sindhu made a positive start to her campaign in women's singles but Kidambi Srikanth suffered a straight game loss on the opening day of the $ 1 million Dubai Super Series Final, in Dubai on Wednesday.
As Kidambi Srikanth lost his second round match, India's campaign ended at the Singapore Open.
Kidambi Srikanth might be inching towards the coveted World No 1 ranking after his record-equalling Super Series win in Paris but he says he does not want to lose sleep over chasing it.
Srikanth was to play against Momota in the first round on Wednesday but the Japanese world number one pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday
Young shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to win the women's and men's singles titles respectively at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships in Delhi on Monday.
Srikanth held a 4-1 record over Prannoy coming into this match, but the shuttler was unable to deliver. Srikanth won the first game 21-13, but Prannoy won the second set comprehensively.
The Chirag-Satwik pair won the Thailand Open in May to reclaim the No.1 ranking but suffered loss of form and made a first-round exit from the Singapore Open last month.
Newly-crowned India Open champions Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth continued their rampaging international run, notching contrasting victories to enter the second round of the US $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday.
For the first time in the history of badminton, two Indians will clash in a Super Series final with Kidambi Srikanth taking on B Sai Praneeth at the Singapore Open, in Singapore, on Sunday.
Third seed Sindhu beat Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri while Srikanth accounted for China's Huang Yuxiang.
On the eighth day of CWG 2018, the 22-year-old from Hyderabad made everything look so easy as she clinched a comfortable 21-15, 21-9 win over Wendy Chen in a one-sided last-16 clash of the women's singles event that lasted 34 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena.
India's leading shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of the French Open with straight-game wins, but it was curtains for Sameer Verma at the US $750,000 BWF event, in Paris, on Wednesday.
After Srikanth was ousted 9-21, 11-21 by reigning world champion Kento Momota of Japan, third seed Sindhu went down fighting 11-21, 21-11, 15-21 to World No. 6 Chen Yufei of China in a hard-fought contest, which lasted 52 minutes.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P V Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday. Saina, who clinched her second Australian Open title earlier this month, exchanged places with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who now occupies the sixth spot in the women's singles list headed by Spain's Carolina Marin.
From a laidback boy with poor dietary habits, Kidambi Srikanth has become an attacking player who can quickly deploy his considerable skills against tough opponents, writes Anand Datla
Lakshya Sen is only the third Indian men's badminton player to reach the quarter-finals at the Olympic Games.
