Indian badminton stalwart Ashwini Ponnappa broke down in tears, announcing she has played her last Olympics after she and her partner Tanisha Crasto suffered their third straight defeat in the women's doubles competition of the Paris Games.
Asked if the cancellation of the first match's result had any impact on him, Sen said, "I just took it as a practice match; now it is time for me to just focus on one match at a time. I will rest, recover and try to be at my best against Christie.
China's two-time Olympic badminton champion Lin Dan, one of the sport's greatest singles players, announced his retirement on Saturday. The 37-year-old, who won the Olympics singles titles in Beijing in 2008 and the 2012 London Games, has won all the sport's major titles, including five world championships' gold medals.
Sindhu stands on the brink of history as she pursues the gold medal in the upcoming Games, having won a silver and bronze in 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo edition respectively.
HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma are the men's singles players who have decided to withdraw while doubles specialists Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have also opted out. Leading Indian women's singles players PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - both previous Olympic medallists - are making the trip to England, as are their male counterparts Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth.
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.
The Indian men's team qualified automatically by virtue of being the defending champions while the women made the cut after winning a historic gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia earlier this year.
The Badminton Association of India are hoping to finalise the duo's appointments by the end of this month.
Jia Min was happy to execute her plan but acknowledged that her opponent was not at her best shape.
With the main draw of the Asian Badminton Championships set to get underway from Wednesday, the struggling Indian shuttlers face an uphill task.
Marin Carolina has come a long way to be the reigning Olympic and world champion but the Spaniard yearns for more as she continues her journey towards becoming the best-ever in the sport.
India's shuttlers, including London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, expressed shock after reports emerged that a sparring partner of the Taiwanese national team, who was in Birmingham during the All England Championship, tested positive for the coronavirus.
A year ago, following the World Championships, Sen underwent nasal surgery to treat a deviated septum. What followed was an extended recovery process that took eight months.
Sindhu pulls out of Uber Cup
Indian women trounced Pakistan 5-0 after losing a thrilling tie 2-3 against Hong Kong.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round of French Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
India's star shuttler H S Prannoy doesn't want to think about Paris right now and is instead focussing on "short-term targets" like breaking into the world's top three.
China shrugged off badminton's biggest Olympic scandal to sweep all five titles at London four years ago but the Asian super-power is trying to keep a lid on expectations of another bumper gold medal haul at the Rio de Janeiro Games. The peerless team that set up the 'Great Haul of China' in London will line up almost unchanged at Rio, anchored by men's singles great Lin Dan and women's champion Li Xuerui. So strong were the Chinese in 2012 that they swept the titles without the reigning world champion women's doubles pairing of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, who were expelled from the tournament in disgrace.
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.
Kidambi Srikanth is the lone Indian survivor at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel. He progressed to the semi-finals with a straight-games win over Chinese Taipei's Chia Hao Lee on Friday night.
Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat said the game was only about Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan at the moment.
The Hyderabad Open badminton tournament, scheduled to be held from August 11 to 16, was on Thursday cancelled by the world body BWF in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The event was part of the BWF's revised calendar to restart the sport after the pandemic-forced cancellations since March.
"I remember Chandrayaan-2's launch was earlier scheduled on July 15. I was there in Sriharikota. I saw the massive carrier, 'Bahubali', from close proximity.
The parents of P V Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman singles player on Friday to ensure a medal at the ongoing World Badminton Championships, attributed their daughter's success to hard work and determination.
Lakshya Sen registered an easy 21-9, 21-15 win over Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in his pre-quarterfinal match.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down to World No 4. pair Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
'It was tough financially for the first few years but my friends and family supported me and once he did well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, there was no looking back.'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
'Well, I think every year, in the last few years, has been better than the previous one'
Bhagat now has 11 medals, including six gold, two silver and three bronze medals in the world championships. He has the distinction of reaching the finals in all the editions, barring the 2007 and 2017 World Championships.
Srikanth lost to Ireland's unseeded player Nguyen Nhat 11-21, 21-15, 12-21
She might be in red-hot form after her recent title wins but ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal feels past record won't matter when she begins her campaign in the World Badminton Championship in Paris on Tuesday.
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu feels the experimental service law in badminton could have come at a better time.
Lee, who was diagnosed with early stage nose cancer last year, said he opted to retire after being told by doctors that his body could no longer take the intense training needed for high-level competition.
Saina Nehwal has once again resumed her partnership with long-time mentor and former coach Pullela Gopichand and would be starting her training at his academy in Hyderabad after recovering from a thigh strain.
Lakshya's Paris hopes brighten, enters No.15 in Olympic Games qualification
The emotional and financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic is weighing on Indian shuttler HS Prannoy's mind and he believes that the already "bleak" scenario would only get worse if things don't take a turn for the better in one and a half month's time. The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 40,000 globally, has put countries in lockdown and halted sports, including badminton, across the world. It has also triggered financial and mental woes across the world.
The Indian hockey team entered the Olympic semifinals for a second successive edition but Lakshya Sen's zealous push for a gold turned into a hunt for bronze on a bitter-sweet Sunday for India at the Paris Games.
P V Sindhu advanced to the second round after her opponent Li Yvonne Li of Germany retired after the first game.
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