World Badminton Championships silver medallist Saina Nehwal feels her decision to shift base to Bangalore and train under Vimal Kumar turned out to be a masterstroke.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal regained the No 1 position in the international rankings after China's Li Xuerui dropped a couple of rungs to third in the latest list, issued on Friday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, who regained the number one spot in international rankings, said it was a big achievement for her.
India's campaign at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament ended after P V Sindhu and Anand Pawar lost their respective women's and men's semi-final matches in straight games in New Delhi on Saturday.
'I think it was a fantastic game for me. I started off really well in the first game but he was playing well in the second game, leading 11-6 at the break and fighting it out. But overall, I think my game was going great, my attack was going well for me'
However, it was curtains for former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap after he went down 10-21 19-21 to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
Sachin Tendulkar has no hesitation in terming India as favourites going into the World Cup but what makes him happier is the team's ability to be competitive 'in any part of the world and on any surface'.
Srikanth or Sindhu? Advani or Kohli? Or will a 21 year old pip the stars? Vote and tell us who your favourite Indian sportsperson of the year is.
Saina Nehwal's chances of defending her title at the Commonwealth Games looks bleak as she has decided to skip the selection trials for the upcoming multi-sport events.
Riding on her stupendous performance at the Australian Open Super Series, Indian ace Saina Nehwal jumped two places to reach the World No. six in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad, who clinched the Australian Open title -- her first of the season - last Sunday, now has 75,369 points in her kitty.
India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy reached the second round but it was curtains for men's singles shuttlers at the Singapore Super Series, on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
India will be sending full teams for the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold (May 30-June 4), Indonesia Open Super Series (June 12-18) and Australian Open Super Series (June 20-25).
Sameer Verma stunned World No. 3 Jorgensen to enter the final, while Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu brushed aside local shuttler Cheung Ngan Yi's challenge to make the title round, her second final seven days.
P V Sindhu and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes alive by making it to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles event of the India Open Super Series Badminton Championship.
Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal stood just one win away from clinching her maiden China Open title after she stormed into the finals of the USD 700,000 Super Series Premier tournament in Fuzhou.
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.
In other India-related news, Manish Kaurav (KL3 men 200m) and Manjeet Singh (VL2 men 200m) made it to the finals of their respective events for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Defending champion Lee Chong Wei produced one of his finest performances to retain the men's singles title with a straight-game victory over familiar foe Chen Long of China in the final of the US $250,000 Yonex Sunrise Metlife India Super Series in Delhi on Sunday. In an all-Chinese women's singles final, All-England champion Shixian Wang, seeded second, kept her cool at crucial moments to overcome Olympic champion and top seed Li Xuerui 22-20, 21-19 in 47 minutes.
Saina Nehwal will lead India's charge in the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament which begins in Macau on Tuesday after three-time champion P V Sindhu pulled out of the event to prepare herself for the Dubai Super Series Finals.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued their winning run at the Malaysia Open notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition at the USD 550,000 Super Series Premier tournament.
Sindhu is now the joint highest medal-winner in women's singles in the World Championships history with former Olympic champion Zhang Ning of China, who won an identical 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze between 2001 and 2007.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is the first Indian woman to achieve the World No 1 ranking.
P V Sindhu cemented her position as a dominant force on the world stage with an Olympic silver medal while Saina Nehwal continued to battle with injuries in a year, which saw Indian badminton take giant strides at the global platform. It turned out to be a watershed year for Sindhu, who reached the upper echelons of world badminton with a silver medal at Rio Games -- an achievement also for her mentor and chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who became the only Indian coach to produce two Olympic medallists. On the other hand, for the first part of the year, it was Saina's battle with injuries which dominated the headlines even though she was considered to be the best bet for India at Rio. The Indian ace fought against time to recover from an Achilles tendons and went on to win the Australian Super Series.
H S Prannoy outwitted World No 2 and title favourite Kidambi Srikanth in a thrilling final to win the men's singles title at the 82nd Senior National Championship, in Nagpur on Wednesday.
Top seed K Srikanth made a rollicking start to the new season as he clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold with a convincing win over China's Huang Yuxiang in the men's singles final in Lucknow on Sunday.
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Rising shuttler P V Sindhu has been given the top billing in the women's singles event at the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold 2013 starting in Kuala Lumpur from April 30.
With this win, she also became the only second Indian to reach the finals of World Championship after Saina.
Her reluctance to appear for BAI trials could well end her chances of representing the flag
Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso has been roped in to guide the singles players -- both men and women -- ahead of Tokyo Olympics. Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary, Ajay Singhania said the visa process has started and Santoso is likely to join the Indian team in the mid of next month.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 6,000 lives and infected close to 160,000 people worldwide, has led to the cancellation or postponement of all sporting events across the globe. ports Minister Kiren Rijiju urged the athletes to not lose spirit and keep working hard to stay battle ready for competitions.
A much-anticipated second round meeting of India's top two women shuttlers, world No 1 Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, failed to materiliaze as the latter came a cropper in her opening match at the Japan Open Super Series badminton tournament, in Tokyo, on Wednesday.
Set to return to the international circuit at Denmark Open, India ace shuttler P V Sindhu, on Friday, said winning the silver medal at Rio Olympics has given her a lot of confidence and she would look to play without any pressure in the upcoming events.
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.
All eyes will be on Indian ace Saina Nehwal when she returns to the court after an injury lay-off at the All England Championship, hoping to better last year's runner-up finish at the prestigious event which begins with the qualifiers in Birmingham.
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