Confident about their preparation for the upcoming World Championships, India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said the home shuttlers have the best chance of winning multiple medals at the prestigious tournament next month.
The celebration of this historic feat was not yet over when Indian shuttlers scripted yet another jaw-dropping show in Birmingham, returning with six medals, including three golds, a silver and two bronze medals in August.
In hockey, the women's team continued its inspiring run with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
China, who have yet to lose a single badminton match to another nation at the Tokyo Olympics, won gold and silver in mixed doubles on Friday after Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping beat favourites Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 21-17, 17-21, 21-19.
Chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, who guided Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu to Olympic medals in the successive Games, says he was lucky that he wasn't good in studies and it was a flunked IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) exam that paved his way to be a successful sportsperson.
Indian women's badminton team scripted history as they reached the semi-finals of the Uber Cup tournament for the first time with a dominating 3-0 victory over Indonesia in the quarter-finals at the Siri Fort Sports complex.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand feels Indian athletes no longer have to worry about the basic facilities that he had to struggle for in his playing days.
Injured HS Prannoy's absence hurt India as they went down fighting 2-3 against badminton powerhouse China
The Birmingham showpiece will be held from July 28 to August 8.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing atthe Olympic Games in Tokyo on Sunday.
Manjit Singh came from nowhere to snatch the men's 800m gold for the biggest medal of his life but finals continued to be a riddle for P V Sindhu
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Pullela Gopichand, who has coached Olympic medallist shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, on Monday said that India can win a bagful of Olympic medals only if sports culture is built in the country through nurturing talent at the grassroot level. Wrestler Sakshi Malik and Sindhu saved India the blushes at the Rio Olympic Games by winning a bronze and a silver respectively.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Four years after a bronze at London Games made her the toast of the nation, Saina Nehwal will once again carry a billion hopes when she along with the other six shuttlers, including doubles exponent Jwala Gutta, begin their campaign at the Rio Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy scored a stunning straight games victory over world No. 18 Li Wenmei and Zheng Yu to make it to the second round in the women's doubles at the US $350,000 India Open, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
While Sangakkara advises the under-fire keeper-batsman to keep things simple
India's campaign at the Sudirman Cup ended after they went down 0-3 against top seed and 10-time champions China in the quarter-finals of the mixed team championship in Gold Coast.
Here are some of the other events -- in pictures -- that made news last week.
Rediff.com takes you through a photographic journey of all the exciting sporting moments that unfolded over the last seven days.
'In this year, we had the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships and we have been successful (in those) and that was our target for this year. And I'm happy that at the end of the year they (players) are able to maintain their rankings'
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.
India began their campaign Badminton Asia Team Championships in style with both men's and women's teams posting victories against their Singapore rivals to make it to the quarterfinals. Indian men made a clean sweep of their five-match tie against Singapore, who had lost to China two days ago. India, China and Singapore are part of Group A. Despite the absence of star player Saina Nehwal, the Indian women registered a comprehensive 5-0 win against Singapore and also entered the quarter finals as the Singapore team lost to Japan earlier. Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches. India's rising shuttler Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over his Singapore rival Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first Singles match. The Singaporean tried to make matters difficult for Srikanth, but the world number nine bounced back to have the last laugh.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal says the Glasgow World Championship made her realise that she needs to work harder on her stamina and beat tougher players to regain her place among badminton's top-10.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap suffered a major blow to his Olympic qualification hopes when he retired hurt midway through the German Open pre-quarterfinals at Mulheim an der Ruhr on Thursday.
It was a day when India counted the silvers, a total of five, even though there was no gold in the tally.
Of the top 15 on Forbes' list of best-paid female athletes, 12 were tennis players. Indian badminton player PV Sindhu came in tied for 13th ($5.5 million), with Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn ($5.3 million) rounding out the top 15.
A summary of Indian athletes' performances on Sunday, August 7, Day 10 of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
Neeraj's gold and three other athletics silver medals, along with Saina Nehwal's badminton singles bronze, propelled India's overall medal count to 41 (8 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze).
Kidambi Srikanth, whose stature has grown immensely following a phenomenal 2017, was nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri award by former Sports Minister Vijay Goel.
Iran ended seven-time champions India's unchallenged kabaddi domination in the Asian Games since the sport was first introduced in 1990.
Saina Nehwal is better equipped to win a medal in Rio in August than the Indian shuttler was when she claimed a bronze at the London Olympics four years ago, former All England champion Prakash Padukone said.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next play seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, who knocked out two-time defending champion Spain's Carolina Marin 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 in the other quarter-final.
The Indian badminton team went down fighting against hosts South Korea (1-3) in the women's team badminton semi-finals to settle for their maiden bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon on Sunday.
2019 became a 'Year to Remember' in Indian sports for trailblazing performances in Olympic disciplines
Former India coach Anil Kumble is in the running for the Coach of the Year award in the inaugural edition of the Indian Sports Honours, instituted by the RP-SG Group in association with the foundation of skipper Virat Kohli.
