How India's athletes fared on Day 1 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu was the only bright spot on a dismal day for Indian badminton as she progressed to the quarter-finals with a straight-game win at the US $350,000 Thailand Open World Super 500 tournament in Bangkok on Thursday.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram continued their good run and reached the quarterfinals of the season-opening Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Sarawak on Thursday.
Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Defending champion Ajay Jayaram and Commonwealth bronze-medallist RMV Gurusaidutt reached the men's singles quarterfinals of the $ 50,000 Dutch Open Grand Prix, in Almere.
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.
The London Olympics bronze medallist displaced Spain's Carolina Marin, who defeated her in the women's final of the World Championships in Jakarta last Sunday.
The experienced Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were eliminated from the women's doubles at the Rio Olympics after losing their second successive Group A match on Friday. In a rollercoaster game against the Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek, Jwala and Ashwini went down 16-21, 21-16, 17-21 in 48 minutes.
The London Olympics bronze medallist beat world No. 73 Brazilian Vicente Lohaynny 21-17, 21-17 in 39 minutes, while Sindhu, a two-time World Championships bronze winner, had things her way against Laura Sarosi of Hungary, winning 21-8, 21-9 in 27 minutes.
Indian ace shuttler Ajay Jayaram's gallant fight ended in a defeat in the opening match as Indian men's team suffered a 1-3 loss against Thailand in their campaign-opener at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament, in Kunshun, on Sunday.
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.
Indian ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition of the $ 120,000 German Grand Prix Gold in Mulheim an der Ruhr.
Sameer Verma stayed on course for his title defence while three-time former champion Saina Nehwal too reached the semifinals with an easy win
While Saina made short work of USA's Beiwan Zhang, second seed Sindhu had to dig deep to get the better of Japanese Sayaka Sato.
It was a day of mixed fortunes for India's badminton players at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament as Sai Praneeth sneaked into the quarter-finals after a hard-earned victory while compatriots Ajay Jayaram and R M V Gurusaidutt lost their respective men's singles matches.
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap along with two other Indians sailed into the second round of the Denmark Super Series Premier with contrasting wins in the opening round, but it was curtains for P V Sindhu in Odense on Wednesday.
It will not be a Saina Nehwal versus P V Sindhu final in the women's singles but the men's singles will be an all-Indian affair with P Kashyap and K Srikanth set to clash for the title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow.
Sindhu and Saina will once again be India's best bet as they look to put up a good show this week.
Defending champion H S Prannoy eked out a thrilling win over China's Qiao Bin to advance to the quarterfinals of the $120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday.
BAI has confirmed the services of Tan Kim, who will be joining the Indian team by the end of September to work with the top doubles players.
The unseeded Indian beat the 11th seed 21-11, 13-21, 21-7 in a second round match that lasted an hour and two minutes.
London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal resumed training at a separate facility in Hyderabad after the COVID-19-induced break and is likely to join the national camp at the Sports Authority of India-Pullela Gopichand Academy in a couple of weeks.
Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the semi-finals of the $55,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition in Calgary, Canada.
India witnessed another fruitful day at the Canada Open as all its shuttlers, including Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy, entered the third round of the $55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament, in Calgary, Canada.
India's campaign at the All England Badminton Championships came to a disappointing end with Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma all exiting from the tournament in Birmingham on Friday.
Rio-bound Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will look to boost their confidence ahead of the Olympic Games when they start their title defence at the Canada Open badminton tournament, starting in Calgary on Tuesday. 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallists, Jwala and Ashwini didn't have the best results in the run up to the Rio Olympics and the duo will look to put their best foot forward when they take the court here with just a little more than a month to go for the Games.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Saina Nehwal guided the Indian women's team to a dominating 5-0 win over Germany to stay on course for a knockout berth in Uber Cup, but the men's team suffered a narrow 2-3 defeat against Hong Kong, staring at an early exit in Thomas Cup badminton tournament in Kunshan, China.
Teenage shuttler Lakshya Sen reaffirmed his status as one of India's rising talent as he gave legendary Lin Dan a scare before losing in three games at the Auckland Open Badminton Championship, in Auckland, on Thursday.
World number one Saina Nehwal disposed off Nichaon Jindapon's challenge in straight games, but PV Sindhu crashed out of the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament after a close first-round defeat, in Jakarta, on Wednesday. In the men's singles, both the Indians in the fray -- Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth -- advanced to the second round with contrasting victories.
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
India's Parupalli Kashyap played one of the longest matches of his career as he roared into the prequarterfinals.
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.
Seasoned Indian ace Saina Nehwal and the fast-rising H S Prannoy notched up contrasting wins in the women's and men's singles competition respectively to reach the All England badminton championships' second round at Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.
P V Sindhu stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championships with a straight-games victory over Olga Golovanova of Russia, in Copenhagen, on Wednesday.
Sindhu lost 7-21, 24-22, 15-21 to Beiwen Zhang of United States in a match that lasted 56 minutes while World Championships bronze-medallst Sai Praneeth was trailing 9-21, 7-11 when he conceded the match to fifth-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark due to an unspecified injury.
Sindhu leads India to 3-2 win over Hong Kong in Asia badminton Team Championship
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.
The World No 25 pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag put a gallant fight in the second game but couldn't stop the two-time All England Champions from Indonesia, going down 12-21, 24-26 in a 42-minute match.
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