Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a superb straight-game win over Estonia's Raul Must in the finals to defend his men's singles title at the Dutch Open Grand Prix in Almere, The Netherlands on Sunday.
This year PV Sindhu has reached the summit clash at India Open, the Commonwealth Games and the Thailand Open but failed to cross the final hurdle, prompting many critics to once again describe her as the 'perennial bridesmaid'.
India shuttler Kidambi Srikanth believes the days of domination of Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei are over and the tournaments are more wide open than ever.
Her frequent losses in the finals and the accompanying criticism does not affect ace shuttler PV Sindhu, who, on Saturday, said playing in the summit showdown of a tournament itself is 'a big achievement'.
Young men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too entered the quarter-finals after getting past Chinese Taipei's Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng 21-17, 21-16 in the second round.
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.
'I play in the present without thinking about the buzz in the background,' says Vivek Sagar Prasad, who has just won the FIH Rising Star of the Year award.
Three Indians will feature in the semi-finals of the French Open Super Series badminton tournament after Kidambi Srikanth, H S Prannoy and P V Sindhu won their quarter-final matches in Paris on Friday.
On an extremely bad for India at the Denmark Open, top seed Saina Nehwal suffered a shock second round defeat while Kidambi Srikanth also failed to clear the second round in men's singles of the $650,000 Super Series Premier event, in Odense on Thursday.
'Saina and Sindhu are top contenders, but they will have to beat players who are playing solid badminton at this juncture.'
Indian ace Kidambi Srikanth's gallant fight ended with a narrow three-game loss against home favourite Tommy Sugiarto in the men's singles finals of the $ 120,000 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Malang, on Sunday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
The third highest paid endorser after Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, Sindhu is the highest paid among woman athletes and non-cricket sportspersons in the country, says Urvi Malvania.
After losing the first game, the 24-year-old Indian rebounded strongly to clinch a 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 win over Wan Ho in a gruelling second-round clash that lasted almost an hour.
Sachin Tendulkar and other eminent sporting stars congratulated Saina Nehwal on becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the world number one ranking in badminton.
Virat Kohli? M C Mary Kom? Neeraj Chopra?
Kidambi Srikanth is against any drastic changes in the scoring system being contemplated by the world body.
Memories of a path-breaking gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games are still fresh in her mind as Saina Nehwal embarks on a quest to regain the title at the Gold Coast Games starting next week.
As preparations for the Rio Olympics gather pace, India may be headed for yet another paltry medal haul.
Leander Paes... Sania Mirza... Pankaj Advani.. Saina Nehwal... Ravichandran Ashwin... Anirban Lahiri... Vijender Singh... Who is India's Sportsperson of 2015?
>There's still hope and plenty to play for, says Rediff.com's Aruneel Sadadekar.
According to the report, published on Tuesday, the event's prize money of $4.2 million is much more than the combined prize money of all other sports leagues in the country.
Third seed Sindhu beat Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri while Srikanth accounted for China's Huang Yuxiang.
Asked about Saina Nehwal, whose 2012 London Games bronze medal winning show was a path breaker for Indian women's badminton, Padukone is confident that the 26-year-old former World number one will be regain her best form.
It is the surprise element of the unheralded shutters, who could pose a bigger threat to his medal aspirations at next month's Commonwealth Games.
In the absence of Saina Nehwal, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P Kashyap will spearhead India's challenge in the season-opening Malaysian Open Super Series badminton tournament starting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated shuttler Kidambi Srikanth after he clinched his second Super Series Premier title by lifting the Indonesia Open men's singles trophy in Jakarta.
Despite clinching the Macau Open title for the third time, India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu remained static at 12th position in the latest BWF world ranking released on Thursday. Saina Nehwal also held on to her number two position but a poor run of form saw K Srikanth lose a spot and slip to World No. 9.
One of the strong medal hopefuls from badminton at the upcoming Olympics, PV Sindhu said she wants to break into the top 7 in world ranking before the Rio Games in August.
Also seen in action for India will be the shuttlers, boxers, the women's hockey team and the table tennis players among others.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Anand Pawar, ranked 43rd in the world and a member of the Indian Sudirman Cup team, became the latest Indian player to slam the Indian Badminton League after he went unsold at the IBL players' auction while other lower-ranked Indian players were snapped up by the six franchises.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal opens her campaign in the India Open World Super Series tournament against Asian Games bronze medallist Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong. The event, which begins in Delhi on April 24, will double up as the final qualifying meet for the London Olympics.
Sourabh recovered from a mid-game slump to beat Sun 21-12, 17-21, 21-14 in the summit clash
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Sindhu said she is working on her technique to iron out the flaws.
Indian batting mainstay Virat Kohli, tennis star Sania Mirza and top-seeded badminton player Saina Nehwal lead the pack of over 50 Indians in Forbes' inaugural list of top promising young leaders and game changers under the age of 30 in Asia.
She clinched three individual titles and a couple of bronze medals at prestigious team events this season but far from satiated, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal feels she could have garnered more trophies had it not been for some missed opportunities.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
Indian shooter Manu Bhaker won gold in women's 10m Air Pistol in Youth Olympics on Tuesday.
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