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).
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Wednesday said it might freeze the world rankings for a while as it works on a "fair solution" to the Olympic qualification process after the coronavirus pandemic forced a postponement of the Tokyo Games to 2021. There have been growing calls to freeze the world rankings after cancellations and postponements wrecked the sport's calendar. Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy have been leading the way in expressing concerns.
Ace shuttler and world number five Saina Nehwal on Thursday crashed out in the second round of the Asia Badminton Championship at Qingdao, China as India wrapped up their campaign on a disappointing note in the tournament.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the Indian men's doubles badminton pair, have gained recognition for their speed, power, and height, earning praise from top international opponents.
India's badminton team lost their Group D tie against South Korea 2-3 in the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship.
When Prakash Padukone won the All England Championships, he was seeded third and had entered the tournament on a high after winning two other competitions.
The teen ace is seeded second in the July 3-9 tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal hardly showed any fatigue from a recent bout of chickenpox as she stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of World Badminton Championships with a straight-game victory over Russian Anastasia Prokopenko in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
'If you are willing to shine like the sun, you must be willing to burn like it.'
Their only loss came against group toppers China, the most successful team in the tournament with 13 titles, in their second group tie on the opening day of the tournament.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championships with an easy victory over Natalia Perminova of Russia, in Copenhagen, on Tuesday. The seventh seeded Indian ace needed just 31 minutes to dispose off Perminova 21-11, 21-9.
Saina Nehwal's quarter-final jinx at the World Badminton Championships continued, as the ace Indian shuttler suffered a straight-games defeat to world No 3 Wang Xin and bowed out of the women's singles at Wembley Arena, London, on Friday. Jwala Gutta and Ashiwni Ponnappa, however, scripted history, becoming India's first-ever women's doubles pair to make it to the semi-finals of a World Championships.
Just 18 months after pairing up, the young mixed doubles pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath rise to World No 33.
With her silver from Rio, PV Sindhu is already India's most successful female Olympian but her World Championship triumph also boosted the nation's hopes of a medal in Tokyo next year.
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.
Saina Nehwal crashed out of the World Badminton Championships, losing to No 6 seed Shixian Wang of Chana in the quarter-finals in Paris on Friday. The second seeded Indian ace lost 8-21, 14-21.
Badminton England said in a statement that the decision followed "concerns about the English team potentially being a target of attack in the event of a terrorist act."
Danish third seed Peter Gade started with an easy win but Chinese 11th seed Bao Chunlai was upstaged in the first round of the world badminton championships which began under tight security on Monday.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced a new 2020 tournaments calendar on Friday with the World Tour set to return with the Taipei Open from Sept. 1-6.
Fifth seed Chen Long of China tumbled out of the World badminton championships on day one, beaten by little-known Kevin Cordon of Guatemala, at Wembley Arena on Monday. In a 74-minute thriller, world number 36 Cordon clinched victory on his fourth match point 21-19, 8-21, 27-25.
Aparna Popat gave a tough fight to Rebecca Bellingam before losing 11-9, 8-11, 9-11 to crash out of the World Badminton Championships
Ashwini and Tanisha, who won the Guwahati Masters super 100 title, last month will take on Malaysia's Pei Kee Go and Mei Xing Teoh next.
Former champion Taufik Hidayat halted Danish youngster Jan O Jorgensen's giant-killing run 21-19, 21-19 to enter the semi-finals of the World Badminton Championships on Friday. In the women's draw, world number one Zhou Mi of Hong Kong was toppled 21-15, 21-18 by Chinese fifth seed Xie Xingfang.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu defeated rising shuttler Anmol Kharb 21-17, 21-15, while Lakshya, 2021 world championships bronze medallist, powered past Malaysian qualifier Sholeh Aidil 21-12, 21-12 in another match.
Lakshya Sen sails into third round of World Championships
India's women shuttlers assured themselves of a maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships medal by cruising to a 3-0 win over Hong Kong in the quarter-finals.
The top-seeded Indian pair lost in straight games against Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in Birmingham on Thursday.
The para-athletes outnumbered the able-bodied ones in the list this time due to the magnificent Paris Paralympics performance in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.
Besides Srikanth, the other players withdrawn are Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Rahul Thkar, Treesa Jolly, Mithun Manjunath, Simran Aman Singh and Khushi Gupta.
Two players withdrawn from India Open due to COVID-19
Home Minister P Chidambaram stood in queue, purchased a ticket from the counter and watched the finals of the World Badminton championship from the spectators gallery on Sunday to send a symbolic message after England pulled out citing security reasons following alleged terror threat to the event.
Chicken pox has rendered Saina Nehwal doubtful for next month's World Badminton Championships even though the ace shuttler remains hopeful of competing in the high-profile event at hometown Hyderabad. Saina, who named among the Arjuna award winners on Wednesday, was down with mild fever since Saturday and it was only on Wednesday that she was diagnosed with chicken pox and advised complete bed rest for the next few days.
Injured HS Prannoy's absence hurt India as they went down fighting 2-3 against badminton powerhouse China
Back on the court after a month, Saina Nehwal will battle it out against a tough field while the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju will aim for a second title at the Japan Open Super Series.
Gearing up for her return after a month-long break, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal said she has regained full fitness and would be at the top of her game during next week's Japan Open Super Series. Saina was down with chicken pox weeks before the World Badminton Championship last month but the Hyderabadi battled on to become the first Indian to reach the quarter-finals of the blue-ribbon event.
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out of the World Badminton Championships after a straight games defeat to defending champions and second seeds Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the quarter-finals in Hyderabad on Friday. The world No 8 Indian pair was beaten 16-21, 14-21 in just 27 minutes.
The defending champion needed only 38 minutes to pack off the Indian in the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships.
B Sai Praneeth became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to secure a medal in the BWF World Championships after a straight-game victory over Indonesia's Jonatan Christie.
Indian badminton ace Anup Sridhar talks about his form and chances at the Beijing Olympics.
PV Sindhu survived a scare against Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi before prevailing 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 in a thrilling singles match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances