PV Sindhu finally fetched India its first ever World Championships gold in the sport but spent rest of the year struggling for form.
Sindhu expectedly faced no resistance from Uganda's Husina Kobugabe, winning 21-10, 21-9 in her pre-quarterfinal match.
Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu scored an upset victory over top seed Ji Hyun Sung in a hard-fought three setter to storm into the women's singles final of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Penang on Saturday.
India's athletes are being told that plenty of shut-eye could be the foundation for Olympic success and the team has roped in sleep therapist Monika Sharma to keep them at their sharpest in Paris.
The core of the team remains the same with HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in good form and the Indian team would hope the rub of the green also goes their way when it begins campaign on Thursday.
The 25-year-old Indian, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from injuries, beat Mithun 21-9, 21-15 in just 31 minutes to set up a title clash with Japan's Koki Watanabe on Sunday.
India's PV Sindhu, drawn in easy group, faces Israel's Ksenia in opener.
Rishabh Pant has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
Malvika, the only Indian woman left in the singles draw, overcame Karupathevan Letshanaa of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16.
HS Prannoy made an early exit from the Korea Open Super 500 tournament
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.
Six medals from a 117-strong contingent is not ideal but India had its moments of joy, hope, frustration, and heartache.
A vociferous crowd failed to inspire India as the hosts went down fighting to Malaysia 1-3 in the finals of the mixed badminton event to settle for a silver in the Commonwealth Games at the Siri Fort sport complex in New Delhi on Friday.
Indian shuttlers bagged the Asian Youth badminton championship titles in both Under-15 and Under-17 categories to wrap up the tournament with two gold and two bronze, their best ever performance at the competition, in Kudus, Indonesia, on Sunday.
London Olympics bronze-medallist in mixed doubles, Joachim Fischer Nielsen of Denmark feels India has a "strong" men's and women's singles pool and the country is fast emerging as a force to reckon with in world badminton.
Satwik-Chirag eyeing "great things" at Paris Olympics after cracking service variation challenge
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu rallied from a game down to eke out a hard-fought win over Thailand's Supanida Katethong and enter the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament, in Lucknow, on Friday.
Ashwini Ponnappa, who will partner Jwala Gutta in the women's doubles at the Olympics, is confident of peaking in time and doing well at the mega event.
Jonatan Christie gifted Indonesia the Asian Games gold medal they most yearned for when he beat Taiwan's Chou Tienchen in an exciting men's singles badminton final in front of a vociferous home crowd on Tuesday.
India bowed out of the Thomas Cup badminton championships after suffering a 0-3 thrashing by Malaysia in the quarterfinals in Macau.
But the Indian mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan suffered a close 18-21, 21-10, 22-24, loss to Russian pair of Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova, while another pair of Tarun Kona and Sikki N Reddy too went down 13-21, 17-21 against Liao Min Chun and Chen Hsiao Huan of Chinese Taipei.
Young shuttler Tanisha Crasto believes she and doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa have the game to match the world's best.
The Indian mixed doubles team of V Diju and Jwala Gutta eased into the third round beating Malaysia's Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh at the World badminton Championships in Paris, on Tuesday.
With Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu in good form, India will surely win at least three medals from badminton in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, says Jwala Gutta, the country's No 1 doubles player.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals but a heartbreak was in store for P V Sindhu, who suffered a shock defeat to Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Thursday.
China and Indonesia won the Badminton Asia Team Championships in the women and men's categories respectively at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
With both their singles and doubles challengers crashing out in the opening round itself, India's campaign came to a disappointing end in the Swiss Open Super Series badminton tournament in St Jakobshalle, Switzerland.
The All India Tennis Association claimed that Sumit Nagal demanded an annual fee of $50,000 to play Davis Cup ties for India.
Badminton chiefs will consider a new format for the Thomas and Uber Cups after South Korea shamelessly threw two group matches.
'I think for the next generation to come up, we need to put a system in place which actually identifies and nurtures talent. We have grown exponentially but there is lot more which needs to be done' 'It's not only my academy, all academies across the country are running full. There are many, many parents who want their kids to give up everything and concentrate on badminton'
Saina Nehwal remained static at second position while Kidambi Srikanth dropped a place to be at ninth spot in the world badminton rankings released on Thursday.
The top-seeded Indian pair lost in straight games against Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in Birmingham on Thursday.
Lakshya Sen shrugged off the cancellation of his opening match win and defeated Julien Carraggi of Belgium in straight games
The Indian team will next face Hong Kong China and Malaysia on Saturday.
Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri and Gayatri Gopichand also improved two spots to the 17th position.
Tanisha and Ashwini will face the winner of the other semifinal between Taiwanese pair of Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui in the final on Sunday.
India's Parupalli Kashyap played one of the longest matches of his career as he roared into the prequarterfinals.
Defending champion P Kashyap bowed out while top seed K Srikanth entered the semi-finals but it was the stunning win of doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar over their World No 8 opponents from Denmark that was the highlight of the day at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Friday.
It was heartbreak for P V Sindhu at the World Badminton Championships. The Indian shuttler had to settle for a second consecutive bronze medal after succumbing to Carolina Marin of Spain in the semi-finals, in Copenhagen, on Saturday.
Sony won the men's title beating Kuan Beng Hong of Malaysia 15-10, 15-5 while Chen defeated Japan's Morei Kaori wo the women's crown.
