Young shuttler Tanisha Crasto believes she and doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa have the game to match the world's best.
P V Sindhu and H S Prannoy sailed into the quarter-finals of the women's and men's singles badminton event with easy victories at the Asian Games.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu survived some tense moments before progressing to the women's singles second round, but it was curtains for Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth in the men's singles at the Badminton Asia Championships, in Ningbo, China, on Wednesday.
The struggle of Indian women shuttlers on the BWF circuit is quite apparent, but Saina Nehwal backs her colleagues by saying that even the strong Chinese players are finding it difficult to dish out strong performances on a consistent basis and expressed hope that the lean patch of the singles players will end soon.
The World No. 2 had pulled out of Badminton Asia Team Championships because of injury earlier this month, and also exempted herself from participating in the Lucknow Open and South Asian Championships to work on her fitness.
Top stars Saina Nehwal and Lee Chong Wei were the costliest buys, fetching the maximum prize of 100,000$, while Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were bought for a whopping 95,000$ and 80,000$ respectively at the rechristened Premier Badminton League (PBL) players' auction on Monday.
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.
Still recovering from a foot injury and a recurring fever, defending champion Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the women's singles competition at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
For India to send two shuttlers in Tokyo Olympics women's singles, both of them will have to be inside top 16 in the world rankings which will be released after the end of qualification period, on April 30, 2020.
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.
Top Indian shuttler Chetan Anand crashed out of the World Badminton Championships with a disappointing straight-game defeat against a lowly-ranked opponent in the men's singles first round in Paris, on Tuesday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty cruised into the quarter-finals of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris.
Prannoy registered a 21-18, 22-20 win over the world number 12 Chen
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.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty assured India of a men's doubles medal at the Badminton Asia Championships after 52 years after making it to the semi-finals in Dubai.
Already through to the quarter-finals, defending champions India continued their rampaging run as they beat Australia 4-1 in their final group A match of mixed team competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will have a new coach after the Paris Olympics, said his mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar, who has taken over the duties till the Summer Games.
Indian badminton ace, Saina Nehwal continued her downward slide in the rankings falling to No 7 in the list.
'Until April 2024, we have the qualification period so until that we might push for more tournaments but the plan is to pick and choose after you qualify and then gradually peaking before the Olympics.'
Beijing Olympics-bound shuttlers Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal's participation in the first Tata Open badminton tournament, to be held in Mumbai, from July 27-31 is in doubt. While the former is nursing an injury, the latter is still to confirm her entry.
By securing a place in the semfinals, Haseena Sunil Kumar Prannoy became the first Indian in 41 years to book a badminton medal in the men's singles at the Asian Games.
India's Parupalli Kashyap played one of the longest matches of his career as he roared into the prequarterfinals.
It's going to be a hell of journey, says Sindhu welcoming new coach Hafiz Hashim
P V Sindhu had a blessed Sunday as the badminton ace visited the Anjanasuta Shree Yoganjaneya Swami Mandiram.
In other India-related results, it was curtains for Ashmita Chaliha, who lost 17-21, 16-21 to Indonesia's world no. 7 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in 35 minutes. Both teams had received a bye in their opening match.
P V Sindhu and Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the women's singles second round at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
Playing an international tournament after almost a year, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt clinched the men's singles title at the Bulgarian International Future Series tournament on Sunday. Gurusaidutt, who was out of action since the US Open in July 2016 due to an injury, defeated Muhammed Ali Kurt 21-17, 21-16 in 35 minutes.
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.
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.
PV Sindhu fell to a crushing loss in the final of the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 tournament.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
PV Sindhu produced another impressive show as she rallied to a three-game win over USA's Beiwen Zhang to advance to the women's singles quarterfinals
Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the men's singles second round with a stunning win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.
HS Prannoy battled his way into the semifinal of the men's singles with a thrilling three-game win over Malaysia Lee Zii Jia to assure India a badminton medal
Earlier this month, Sindhu had attained her career-best world number two ranking after clinching her maiden India Open Super Series title.
P V Sindhu sought the help of the legendary Prakash Padukone and trained at his academy in Bengaluru last week.
The Badminton World Federastion (BWF) unveiled a revised international calendar to salvage the remainder of the season, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sathish Kumar wins men's singles title, Tanisha-Dhruv claim mixed doubles crown at Odisha Masters
H S Prannoy signed off with a bronze -- India's first medal in men's singles at the Asian Games in 41 years,.
