India skipper Sunil Chhetri, who had struck a hat-trick in the final when India won the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, stressed on the importance of not resting on past laurels and said he is focussed on leading the team's campaign in the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers.
Gearing up for the All England Championship, India's top male shuttler P Kashyap said the "challenging" draw does not bother him as he can beat anyone on a given day.
This was Sindhu's second consecutive loss to Tzu Ying. Saina was no match for Carolina Marin, who took exactly half-an-hour to dispose of the Indian's challenge, beating her 8-21, 7-21.
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.
P V Sindhu had things her way before making it to the quarter-finals in the women's singles badminton competition with a 21-13, 21-15 victory over Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying at the Rio Olympics on Monday night.
Priyanka Goswami's timing of 1:28:45 broke the national record by over a minute.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the ninth day of the Asian Games, on Monday.
Chhetri scored his 62nd international goal to equal Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo's goal tally
Reigning World champion P V Sindhu on Monday said she was completely blank after winning a second successive Olympic medal and it took her a while to realise the enormity of her historic achievement in the ongoing Games.
L Sarita Devi (64kg) and Sonia Lather (57kg) advanced to the semifinals and assured themselves of medals at the Asian women's Boxing Championships.
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.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina beat Tunjung 21-11, 21-12 in a one-sided semifinal match that lasted just 30 minutes.
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.
Shuttlers Jwala Gutta and V Diju on Sunday created history by becoming the first Indian mixed doubles pair to win a Grand Prix Gold in Chinese Taipei.
Indian contingent has an opportunity to go deep in the draw and recapture the trophy which has been won by just two Indians so far -- the legendary Prakash Padukone (1980) and P Gopichand (2001).
Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open in April.
Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women's singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes
Making a comeback after a three-month injury lay-off, Saina Nehwal struggled to make an impression as she went down to Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the first round of the China Open Super Series.
The more experienced Heena Sidhu suffered a similar fate, as she was placed 25th with 571.
Rising player Lakshya Sen went down to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
Srikanth fought hard for 55 minutes against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
While a billion hearts would pray for all the participants to do well, all eyes would be set on the duo of Deepika Kumari/Atanu Das, the four shooters and Mirabai Chanu to open India's medals count.
The total household wealth in India during this period rose 1.7 per cent to $246 billion.
A traditional rivalry will take centre stage when India take on Pakistan in the semi-finals of the Under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament in Dhaka, on Thursday.
In New Delhi's corridors of power, debate continues on whether the navy even needs a third aircraft carrier.
Mary Kom would look to go one step closer towards her sixth gold when she takes the ring in the 48kg semifinals, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
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
Top Indian shuttlers, including world champion P V Sindhu, will be able to hit the courts from July 1 if the Telangana government allows the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to organise a national camp in Hyderabad. With COVID-19 cases surging in Hyderabad, the Telangana government, as a precautionary measure, extended the lockdown till June 30 but it meant the resumption of the sport got further delayed for the top players in the state.
Lovlina Borgohain, who clinched the welterweight (69kg) bronze at Tokyo Olympics, spoke about the hardships she endured to get where she is, the joy of watching the triumph of human spirit at the Games
P V Sindhu's gallant fight ended in agony as she suffered a second successive loss to World no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei at the summit clash of the Hong Kong Super Series on Sunday.
P V Sindhu secured her fifth World Championships medal following a stunning comeback while B Sai Praneeth became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to grab a podium place in badminton's prestigious event, in Basel, on Friday.
Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu reached the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari survived some anxious moments before getting past US teenager Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to sail into the pre-quarter-finals of the women's individual archery competition at the Tokyo Olympics, on Wednesday.
This is the second time in her career, after April 6 this year that Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu has occupied the second spot on the leaderboard.
The Indian trio of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia fought through challenging conditions to clinch the men's team bronze after beating Chinese Taipei in the Archery competition of the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
India struck two late goals as they beat Pakistan 3-1 in their second league match of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers to book a place in the final round of the tournament, in Kuala Lumpur.
Sania Mirza has decided to partner former World No 1 Martina Hingis.
Vijay Keshav Gokhale's tenure as foreign secretary promises to guide India's external affairs along paths never taken before, says K P Nayar.
