The absence of double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu, London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also hurt India's prospect as the team cut a sorry figure at the team-tournament.
An Indian team which is a nice little blend of youth and experience, will have to punch above its weight in what's going to be an arduous challenge in the Sudirman Cup mixed team championships here on Sunday.
Join us in congratulating Sindhu on her historic achievement.
Indian badminton team's chief coach Pullela Gopichand, multiple world title holder cueist Pankaj Advani, former hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay were some of the prominent names who made financial contribution in country's fight against coronavirus pandemic.
Padukone attributed Sindhu and Saina's success to their physical abilities.
Sindhu has fallen in the early stages at all tournaments except the French Open since winning her maiden World Championship title in August.
The Indian challenge ended at the $1,250,000 Indonesian Open after PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy suffered straight-game quarter-final defeats to crash out of the BWF World Super 1000 tournament in Jakarta.
I don't want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond, Gopichand retorts to PV Sindhu's father's allegations of unsatisfactory training.
'We actually have a big vacuum in terms of producing coaches of quality and it's not a training program. It's an ecosystem issue. So, we need to work harder to bridge that gap'
Sindhu, seeded second, defeated local favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21, 21-7 in 37 minutes to make the last-eight stage of her season-opener, while eighth seed Srikanth recorded a clinical 21-14, 21-9 win over Japan's Asian Games bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto.
Saina Nehwal was the lone Indian left in the Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament after a hard-fought victory over China's Sun Yu in Sydney on Thursday. The world No 1 overcame a stiff challenge from Yu, ranked No 9, winning 21-19, 19-21, 21-14 in 78 minutes.
Denmark beat Indonesia 3-2 in the final Sunday, making the Scandinavian country the first European team to win the competition.
India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand believes the Tokyo Olympics should be postponed given the unprecedented crisis that the world is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India's decision to field World No 13 Sameer instead of Kidambi Srikanth in men's singles backfired as the former couldn't get going against Lee Zii Jia, losing 13-21, 15-21 in 48 minutes to allow Malaysia level the scores 1-1 after getting the lead with a win the mixed doubles.
Misfiring Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Barcelona Open on Friday at the hands of fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro who avenged last year's final defeat by winning their quarter-final 2-6, 7-6 (7-5,) 6-4.
Pusarla Sindhu romped into the final of the World Badminton Championships, trouncing China's Chen Yu Fei 21-7, 21-14 in semi-finals, in Basel, on Saturday.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday admitted that it was tough for him to manage two of his illustrious wards Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu together, saying he could never pick a favourite between the two. Gopichand said he always saw the duo as his kids and felt bitter when Saina left his academy to join Prakash Padukone's academy.
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
Rising shuttlers Sai Praneeth, P C Thulasi and Arundhati Pantawane qualified for the main draw of the Singapore Super Series after winning their respective qualifying round matches at the Singapore Indoor stadium on Tuesday.
Top badminton stars, including two-time All England champion Tine Baun of Denmark and world No.4 Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro will participate in the inaugural edition of the US$ 1 million Indian Badminton League.
Star shuttler Saina Nehwal lit up another gloomy day for India at the Olympic Games by storming her way into the women's singles semi-finals while shooting medal hope Ronjan Sodhi fell by the wayside on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal lit up another gloomy day for India at the Olympics by storming into the women's singles semi-finals, even as shooting medal hope Ronjan Sodhi fell by the wayside on Thursday. The ace shuttler exhibited excellent court-craft and unflinching attitude to defeat senior opponent and two-time All England champion Tine Baun of Denmark 21-15, 22-20 in a pulsating quarter-final clash that lasted 37 minutes.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal survived a scare from lower-ranked Japanese Nozomi Okuhara to advance to the semi-finals of the women's singles in the Malaysian Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. The top seeded Indian lost the second game 14-21, after winning the first 21-11, but with Nozomi retiring early in the third, she cemented a place into the last four.
Rising Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma stunned world number eight and home favourite Peter Gade in straight games to enter the second round of the Denmark Open badminton tournament in Odense, Denmark.
The 28-year-old from Hyderabad, a winner of the Indonesia Masters, semi-finalist at Malaysia Masters and quarter-finalist at the All England Championship, saw US$36,825 added to her career earnings.
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.
Two-time All England champion Tine Baun is confident that she and Indian ace Saina Nehwal are good enough to topple the formidable Chinese players at the London Olympics and win medals.
While praising the depth in the Indian men's ranks and expecting it to last for the next 10 years, badminton legend Prakash Padukone lamented that the women's side did not possess the same depth in class after world no. 2 Saina Nehwal and no. 12 P V Sindhu.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Hong Kong Super Series badminton tournament after a straight-game quarter-final defeat to lower-ranked Tine Baun of Denmark, while giant-killer RMV Gurusaidutt also made an exit, on Friday.
Images from Day 6 of Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, on Saturday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal entered her first semi-final of the new season, scoring a hard-fought victory over Tine Baun of Denmark at the Malaysian Super Series in Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. The world No 4 Indian had to toil before prevailing over two-time All England champion Tine 21-13, 21-23, 21-13 in a women singles quarter-final that lasted a little less than an hour.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal hardly broke sweat in a straight games victory over Chinese Taipei's Shao Chieh Cheng, which gave her a berth in the women's singles quarter-finals of the Malaysian Super Series badminton, in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday. The fourth seed rode on her smashes and better net play to outwit Cheng 21-19, 21-8 in 31 minutes.
The Indian challenge at the Australian Open Super Series badminton ended as Saina Nehwal was sent packing by China's Shixian Wang in the women's singles quarter-finals, in Sydney, on Friday. The world No 1 was beaten by the two-time All England champion and fifth seed 15-21, 13-21 in 41 minutes.
The Indian saw off World No 3 Chen Yufei 21-19, 21-10 to enter her first final of the season.
The World No 25 pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag put a gallant fight in the second game but couldn't stop the two-time All England Champions from Indonesia, going down 12-21, 24-26 in a 42-minute match.
India's top shuttlers have missed his court-side presence this year but national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand says he can't really help cutting down on travelling as that would come in the way of finding the next crop of world-beaters.
At 20, Saina Nehwal's shoulders bear the expectations and hopes of millions of sports fans among India's massive population.
Saina was awarded a cheque of Rs 25 lakhs for her title-winning performance at the Australia Super Series in 2016, besides becoming the first Indian to become the World No. 1 and reaching the finals at All England champion in 2015.
World number one Lee Chong Wei continued his dominance over Peter Gade Christensen in the Super Series events to win the men's singles title in the inaugural Indian Open badminton championship in New Delhi on Sunday.
World number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia Saturday set up a mouth-watering summit clash against experienced Danish shuttler Peter Hoeg Gade in the inaugural Indian Open Super Series after both notched up contrasting wins in the men's singles in New Delhi.
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