India's leading shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out of the All-England badminton championships, losing to China's Li Xuerui in the quarter-finals in Birmingham on Friday.
Our current players just need to develop a bit more physically: Saina Nehwal
Triple World Champion Lin Dan of China enthralled the audience with a superb display of stroke-play to notch up his first Asian Badminton Champion title, while compatriot Xuerui Li won the title in the women's singles at the Siri Fort stadium in New Delhi on Sunday.
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu shocked World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi of China to storm into the quarterfinals of the World Championships, in Paris on Thursday.
Top seed Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Asian Badminton Championship after losing her semi-final match against Chinese qualifier Xuerui Li, bringing down the curtains on the Indian challenge at the event in New Delhi on Saturday.
The Indian ace, who attained a career-best No 1 after winning the India Open at the end of March, dropped a rung in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday. Defeat in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier to reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China saw the London Olympics bronze medallist drop to No 2.
Rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu continued her giant-killing run in the Li Ning China Masters Super Series, shocking London Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui of China, to storm into the women's singles semi-finals on Friday.
Raising hopes for a medal in next month's London Olympics, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal on Sunday won the Indonesia Open Super Series title after beating world number three Xuerui Li of China in a hard-fought summit clash in Jakarta.
Two-time champion Saina Nehwal staged a grand recovery to beat fourth seeded Xuerui Li of China in the final to win the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton tournament in Jakarta on Sunday. The World No. 5 Indian shuttler, who won the title back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, prevailed 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 in 70 minutes to claim her second title in two weeks, having won the Thailand Open Grand Prix last week.
Despite the presence of world number four Saina Nehwal, India's women shuttlers were blanked 0-5 by China in the Uber Cup (Asia Zone), while the men's team went down 2-3 after a valiant fight against Indonesia in the Thomas Cup in Macau.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal played her heart out but went down to Xuerui Li of China 18-21, 29-30 at the French Open Super Series in Paris on Thursday.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the French Open Super Series on a positive note, thrashing Jie Yao of Holland in straight-games to reach the second round of the women's singles event at Paris on Wednesday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was the lone bright spot for India, entering the semi-finals of the Asian Badminton Championships in Delhi even as all other Indians crashed out in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The Indian challenge at the Thailand Open Grand Prix ended after ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and two others suffered contrasting defeats in the quarter-finals in Bangkok on Friday. Top seed Saina failed to live up to reputation and lost her women's singles match 13-21, 12-21 to seventh seed Xuerui Li of China in 30 minutes.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold after a thrilling victory in the second round of the women's singles in Bangkok on Thursday. In the men's singles, India's top-ranked player P Kashyap and young gun Sourabh Verma registered contrasting victories in the pre-quarter-finals.
Spain's Carolina Marin pulled off a monumental upset as she beat Chinese world number one Li Xuerui to win the women's singles title at the Badminton World Championships in Copenhagen.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal rallied from a game down to beat Sayaka Takahashi of Japan 14-21, 21-18, 21-12 and enter the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the World Badminton Championships, in Copenhagen, on Thursday. The world No. 7, seeded seventh in the tournament, will take on World No. 1 Li Xuerui of China next.
Xuerui retained her title beating Sindhu 21-19, 21-12 in a 47-minute encounter.
Olympic-bound shuttler Shon Wan Ho of Korea showcased a stunning display of true grit to shock defending champion Lee Chong Wei in the summit clash and clinch his maiden Super Series title, at the India Open badminton tournament in New Delhi on Sunday.
Top Thai shuttler Ratchanok Intanon pocketed her second Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series title with a straight-game victory over Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the women's singles final at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap along with two other Indians sailed into the second round of the Denmark Super Series Premier with contrasting wins in the opening round, but it was curtains for P V Sindhu in Odense on Wednesday.
Indian teen sensation P V Sindhu made sure of a second consecutive bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal after she was beaten in straight games in the women's singles quarter-finals at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen on Friday.
PV Sindhu had burst onto the scene when as a 16-year-old she had stunned London Olympics gold medallist Li in the quarterfinals of China Masters.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will lose her world No. 1 ranking after her gallant fight against Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the semi-finals ended in heartbreak at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament.
Pusarla Sindhu sent Indian fans into a frenzy by blasting through Japan's Nozomi Okuhara to reach the gold medal decider for the women's singles at the Olympic badminton on Thursday.
Japan's Nozomi Okuhara will be awarded the women's singles badminton bronze medal after China's Li Xuerui pulled out of their clash with a knee injury, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.
Teenage Thai Ratchanok Intanon won her first badminton world championship title when she upset Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the women's singles on Sunday to end China's decade of domination in the event.
Saina Nehwal's hopes of winning her maiden 'World Super Series Finals title this year went up in smoke as she lost her semi-final clash against top seed and current Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in a three-game encounter.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal suffered a heartbreaking narrow loss to Olympic Champion Li Xuerui in the semifinals of the India Open Super Series badminton tournament in New Delhi on Saturday. The 26-year-old Indian lost 20-22, 21-17, 19-21 to Li in an edge-of-the-seat thriller in the women's singles competition, to draw curtains on Indian challenge at the Siri Fort Complex. In a nail-biting contest, Saina matched up to Li in the fast-paced rallies but she was not consistent in finishing the rallies. Li, on the other hand, blew hot and cold as some of her cross court half-smashes caught Saina off-guard. Although she also faltered with many strokes. Saina opened up a 8-5 lead early on and managed to stave off the challenge from Li till 11-9. But the Chinese soon managed to draw parity with two quick points and then turned the tables, reaching 16-13. Saina roared back to level with a superb drop from the back court before Li found the net. The Chinese hit wide again and both were tied at 18-18. Another miscued smash and Saina was leading 19-18. What followed was an energy-sapping rally that ended with a return, which Saina didn't even try. But the Indian ensured she has the first shot to take advantage as she reached the game point with a smash that Li could only send to the net.
Italy's renowned World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero has called the Indian Super League football tournament an 'adventure' and said he was 'enthusiastic' about embarking on this new journey.
Images of the gold medallists on Day 8 at the London Olympics.
India's rising badminton star P V Sindhu continued to take giant strides towards asserting herself as one of the best of Indian badminton by lifting the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title with a thumping win over Canada's Michelle Li in the summit clash, in Macau on Sunday.
Reigning World champion and title favourite P V Sindhu sailed into the pre-quarter-finals at the China Open Super 1000 tournament with a convincing straight-games victory over former Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui, in Changzhou, on Wednesday.
Saina dropped two spots to third in the women's singles list, and is placed below Spaniard Carolina Marin (80752), who rose a rung following her Australian Open title triumph.
Rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu's giant-killing spree came to a halt after she went down fighting to World No. 9 Jiang Yanjiao in the women's singles semifinals of the Li Ning China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou on Saturday.
China has omitted Asian Games singles champion Wang Shixian from their Olympic badminton team and picked 21-year-old talent Li Xuerui as the third and final entrant in the women's singles at the London Games.
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.
Women's world number one Wang Yihan suffered a stunning loss on Sunday in the final of the All England badminton championships, beaten 21-13, 21-19 by seventh-seeded Chinese compatriot Li Xuerui.
Saina Nehwal was made to sweat by American Beiwen Zhang before making it to the women's singles quarter-finals in the All-England Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Thursday night. The seventh seeded Indian ace needed an hour to quell the challenge of the American qualifier 24-22, 18-21, 21-19 in a second round match.
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.
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