Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
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.
Prannoy is only seeded Indian player at No. 7 in the men's singles draw of 32 as he will begin his campaign against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, against whom the Indian has a 4-1 win-loss record.
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.
After losing the first game, the 24-year-old Indian rebounded strongly to clinch a 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 win over Wan Ho in a gruelling second-round clash that lasted almost an hour.
Saina Nehwal remained static at second position while Kidambi Srikanth dropped a place to be at ninth spot in the world badminton rankings released on Thursday.
In the men's draw, HS Prannoy, went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
Indian shuttler H S Prannoy continued his giant-killing spree to stun World and Olympic Champion Chen Long of China to enter the semi-finals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier along with Kidambi Srikanth, in Jakarta, on Friday.
Had Dhanush not been disqualified, India would have won the team gold with a junior Asian record. The shooter from Hyderabad could have also won an individual medal as he was placed third going into the finals.
Chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Monday singled out world number one doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as favourites for an Olympic medal and said two-time medallist PV Sindhu too is on the right path and can deliver once again at the Paris Games.
Defending champion P Kashyap bowed out while top seed K Srikanth entered the semi-finals but it was the stunning win of doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar over their World No 8 opponents from Denmark that was the highlight of the day at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Friday.
Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri and Gayatri Gopichand also improved two spots to the 17th position.
K Srikanth became the latest badminton sensation to emerge from India as he lifted his maiden men's singles title with a stunning straight-game triumph over top-seeded local favourite Boonsak Ponsana at the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold in Bangkok on Sunday.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals but a heartbreak was in store for P V Sindhu, who suffered a shock defeat to Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy sailed into the pre-quarter-finals, but it was heartbreak for Parupalli Kashyap in the men's singles at the World Badminton Championships in Jakarta on Wednesday.
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.
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal, H S Prannoy and K Srikanth entered the quarter-finals of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Bangkok on Thursday. Top seed Saina thrashed Indonesia's Febby Angguni 21-12, 21-11 in a little of over 30 minutes to set up a clash with eighth seed Juan Gu of Singapore.
Badminton ace Saina Nehwal topped her group to march into the women's singles semi-finals while Kidambi Srikanth reached the last four stage despite losing his last men's singles round robin match at the BWF World Super Series Finals in Dubai on Friday.
P V Sindhu has made early exits in as many as seven of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year.
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
Two-time bronze medallist, P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth started their campaign at the World Badminton Champion with contrasting victories in the women's and men's singles competition respectively in Jakarta.
Indian shuttlers R M V Gurusaidutt and K Srikanth notched contrasting victories to enter the semi-finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold on Friday. Seeded 12th, Gurusaidutt sailed past Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong, winning 21-11, 21-14 in 34 minutes at the Macau Forum, thereby taking their head-to-head record to two-all.
Sindhu is the only Indian to feature in the women's singles competition.
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu is set to lead India's charge at the upcoming Sudirman Cup.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Kidambi Srikanth continued his giant-killing spree while Saina Nehwal hardly broke a sweat to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 350,000 Hong Kong Super Series in Kowloon on Wednesday.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal and World number five Kidambi Srikanth were among the nine Indian shuttlers who entered the quarter-finals of the singles events at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
Thailand Open champion Kidambi Srikanth came up with a solid display to shock world number 10 Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in a men's singles match to enter the quarter-finals of the US $300,000 Singapore Super Series.
It was day of mixed results for India at the US$750,000 Denmark Open Super Series in in Odense on Friday, as Kidambi Srikanth fought back brilliantly to shock World No 1 Victor Axelsen and enter the semis after Saina Nehwal crashed out of the event following her quarter-final loss to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.
Crowned the world number one, Saina Nehwal celebrated her numero uno status with a straight-game demolition of Japanese Yui Hashimoto, while Kidambi Srikanth too saw off Xue Song of China to reach their maiden finals at the Yonex Sunrise India Super Series.
National champion K Srikanth's dream run in the Malaysia Super Series badminton tournament ended in the quarter-finals, beaten in straight games by fourth seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, in Kuala Lumpur, on Friday.
In a multi-part series, Joginder Tuteja keeps you informed about the theatrical releases coming up in 2024.
P V Sindhu suffered a straight-game loss to world champion Nozomi Okuhara to crash out but Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy advanced to the quarterfinals of the $ 325,000 Japan Open Super Series, in Tokyo, on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round, but it was a disappointing day for India's men as two of them made an early exit from the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton, in Shah Alam, on Wednesday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu progressed to the quarter-finals of the All England Championship with a hard-fought win over Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol in women's singles, in Birmingham.
HS Prannoy climbed up two spots to achieve a career-best world number seven
Defending men's champion Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock defeat but Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu did not face any trouble as she sailed into the women's singles final with a straight-game victory on an exciting day in Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Saturday.