Kidambi Srikanth, the top-ranking male Indian shuttler who put up an impressive performance in the Badminton Asia Team Championships here, says he aims to achieve a medal in the coming Rio Olympics. "As early as possible, but I am not in a hurry to do that (achieve number one rank in world rankings). It's just that I need to perform consistently. "Then, I will automatically get that. I don't want to become number one (immediately). I want to perform really very well. That's when I can be there (at the top)," the 23-year-old shuttler told PTI. Srikanth, who is currently ranked nine in the world, led the Indian team to semi finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships. He was the only one to win a match in the five-match tie in the semi finals against Indonesia on Saturday. Srikanth remained unbeaten in the tournament. He said he doesn't think much about expectations.
HS Prannoy went down fighting to World No 7 Japanese Kodai Naraoka in a thrilling quarter-final at the Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
World champion Chen Long avoided a potential first-round exit at the All-England Championships on Wednesday and blamed an uncomfortable pillow for a sluggish start to his campaign.
B Sai Praneeth went down fighting to second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the men's singles semi-finals of the New Zealand Open badminton in Auckland on Saturday.
Indian badminton star Pusarla V Sindhu won badminton's women's bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, beating China's He Bing Jao 21-13, 21-15 in third-place play-off on Sunday.
India's P V Sindhu came into the semi-final contest with an overwhelming 4-1 head-to-head lead over Thailand's Chochuwong, but wasn't at her best.
The London Olympic bronze medallist will face either Denmark's Line Christophersen or compatriot Ira Sharma for a place in the finals at the Super 100 event, which is a part of BWF's revised Olympic qualification events.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing atthe Olympic Games in Tokyo on Sunday.
None of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouth-watering opening round clashes to look forward to.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and newly-crowned world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the final in women's and men's singles badminton respectively at the 21st Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
Three Indians will feature in the semi-finals of the French Open Super Series badminton tournament after Kidambi Srikanth, H S Prannoy and P V Sindhu won their quarter-final matches in Paris on Friday.
It was a day of mixed results for India as B Sai Praneeth sailed into the final with a straight-game win but Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal's campaign ended in the semi-final of the $120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Bangkok on Saturday.
In hockey, the women's team continued its inspiring run with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Confident after winning a bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships, fast rising shuttler P V Sindhu says she is ready to take on her celebrated compatriot Saina Nehwal at the inaugural Indian Badminton League.
a look at the country's athletes' showing at the Tokyo Games on Thursday.
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.
India's H S Prannoy faced stiff resistance before prevailing against local hero Daren Liew to advance to the second round of the Malaysia Open, in Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday.
Olympic champion Lin Dan watched helplessly as badminton powerhouse China's decade-long Thomas Cup reign came to a spectacular end after Japan pulled off a huge upset with a 3-0 victory in the semi-final of the men's team event on Friday.
Saina Nehwal thrashed Indonesia's Pia Zebadiah Bernadet to enter the women's singles final in the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Saturday. The world No 14-ranked Indian, who became the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton tournament at the Philippines Open in 2006, won the semi-final 21-7, 21-11.
Check out the complete schedule of Indian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics
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.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are on a collision course at next week's World Championships in Basel, Switzerland, as they have been placed in the same half after the world governing body re-conducted the women's singles draw.
Rising shuttler P Kashyap stunned higher-ranked Malaysian Muhammad Hafiz Hasim to advance to the semi-finals of the individual badminton event of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Monday.
Aruna Tanwar enters Taekwondo quarters.
Top seed P V Sindhu stormed into the semi-finals of the women's singles at the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a straight-games win over Hera Desi of Indonesia in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Young Indian shuttler Pratul Joshi clinched his maiden international title by notching up a hard-fought win over Aditya Joshi in the $17,500 Bahrain International Challenge badminton final at Segayya in Bahrain.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Defending champion Ajay Jayaram continued his dominant run at the Dutch Open, reaching the semi-finals of the men's singles competition of the $55,000 Grand Prix tournament in Almere, Netherlands.
P V Sindhu and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes alive by making it to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles event of the India Open Super Series Badminton Championship.
Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth sailed into the semi-finals of the of the $ 120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold after registering a straight-game win over local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen in Bangkok on Friday.
Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma fell at the final hurdle as he lost to Lucas Corvee of France in straight sets in the summit clash of the Belgian International badminton tournament in Leuven.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad lost her momentum after that incident, losing 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 to eventually sign off with a bronze medal, her second in the continental individual championship.
'When I was around 6 years old, my brother was competing in Spelling Bee, so I wanted to do it too.'
In the second men's semi-final in the National Badminton Championships, fourth seed Arvind Bhatt takes on fifth seed Anand Pawar.
Chief coach of the Indian badminton team, Pullela Gopichand also congratulated the Tokyo Olympics badminton bronze medal winner.
India's Saina Nehwal thrashed Olympic silver medallist Yihan Wang of China to storm into the semi-finals of the All England badminton championships in Birmingham.
Reigning World champion P V Sindhu on Monday said she was completely blank after winning a second successive Olympic medal and it took her a while to realise the enormity of her historic achievement in the ongoing Games.
HS Prannoy becomes the first player to beat Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Victor Axelsen in full a match since March.
PV Sindhu's gallant effort to become India's first ever World Champion ended in a heart-wrenching defeat against Nozomi Okuhara in an epic final, in Glasgow, on Sunday.
