Seventh seeded Indians Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto clinched the mixed doubles title with a straight-games' win over compatriots T Hema Nagendra Babu and Srivedya Gurazada.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa's dream run at the World Badminton Championships came to an end in the semi-finals but the pair managed to script history by claiming a bronze medal for India in the prestigious event after a gap of 28 years.
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
In a nail-biting semi-final, fourth seed Sindhu went down fighting 21-19, 19-21, 18-21 to Yamaguchi after battling for an hour and 19 minutes on Saturday.
Sharath Kamal's progress to the third round of the men's singles in table tennis was the only bright spot on another gloomy day for India at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Super Series badminton championship when she defeated German Juliane Schenk in straight games in the quarter-finals in London.
Sindhu' Hyderabad Hunters and Tai Tzu's Bengaluru Raptors can meet each other on January 31 in the third leg in Hyderabad.
'I think Sindhu could have won. We had our chances in women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles yesterday and they could have pulled through. I think Kashyap also has had a good run. He has had a good tournament. Considering what has happened in the last year with him, it has been a good comeback'
Sachin Tendulkar and other eminent sporting stars congratulated Saina Nehwal on becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the world number one ranking in badminton.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton tournament in Basel.
With her silver from Rio, PV Sindhu is already India's most successful female Olympian but her World Championship triumph also boosted the nation's hopes of a medal in Tokyo next year.
Check out India's schedule on Day 5 of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Monday.
Check out India's schedule on Day 4 of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Sunday.
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.
Former champions P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stayed on course to reclaim titles while a vintage Parupalli Kashyap too regained some form to seal places in the men's singles semi-finals of the US $350,000 India Open badminton, in Delhi, on Friday.
A day after unheralded grappler Sakshi Malik opened India's medal count with a dramatic bronze-winning effort, shuttler P V Sindhu is all set to further showcase Indian women's capabilities at the Olympic on Thursday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is the first Indian woman to achieve the World No 1 ranking.
'Her defence was the one only problem. (Carolina) Marin and Pornpawee (Chochuwong) are good attacking players, they were using a lot of half smash and straight smash, and when Sindhu's defence goes down on a day, it affects her other skills as well, she gets nervous. But now she has improved a lot in her defence as well. Her endurance on the court is also good.'
It was a mixed night for the Indian badminton team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as India's big hope P V Sindhu suffered a three-game loss against Michelle Li in the women's singles but the Indian team still managed to advance to the semi-finals of the mixed team championship after defeating Canada 3-1.
India's Chetan Anand scored an easy straight-game victory over Andrew Smith of England to cruise into men's singles final of Yonex Sunrise India Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Hyderabad on Saturday. The unseeded Indian did short work of his English opponent 21-16 21-9 in the semi-final to set up a summit clash against Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand on Sunday.
He was hailed as the next big thing when he shocked five-time world and two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan in the final of China Open Super Series Premier event, a performance that also held out promise of a medal at the Rio Olympics.
Tokyo should remain the benchmark and source of inspiration till at least Paris 2024. In the shorter run, India's preparations for the Asian and Commonwealth Games next year must begin based on lessons learnt now, asserts Raj Kishore Mishra, former joint secretary at the sports ministry.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa progressed to the semi-finals of the Canada Open badminton tournament after claiming straight sets win over Chan Kaka Tsz Ka and Yuen Sin Ying in their women's doubles contest.
P V Sindhu secured her fifth World Championships medal following a stunning comeback while B Sai Praneeth became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to grab a podium place in badminton's prestigious event, in Basel, on Friday.
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.
Meghana and Tasnim pair defeated Korean duo of Yeo Jin Gong and Da Yeon Jeong 23-21, 21-18 in the final to secure the Under-15 girls doubles title.
Prannoy took to Twitter to express his displeasure.
London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal regained second place while Parupalli Kashyap continued his upward progress, earning two places to reach seventh in the latest world badminton rankings, on Thursday.
Sameer Verma advanced to the semi-finals of the US $150,000 Swiss Open with an easy victory over former world No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan, in Basel, on Saturday.
Indian shuttlers Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Siril Verma continued their impressive run to storm into the finals of women's and men's singles events at the Russian Open Grand Prix here on Saturday.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal celebrated her No 1 ranking by beating Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon to clinch the India Open $275,000 Yonex Sunrise Super series event at the Siri Fort sports complex in New Delhi on Sunday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
One of the biggest drawbacks of Saina Nehwal's career is her failure to break the Chinese stranglehold. It was the same old story again on Friday, as she went down to China's world No 1 Yihan Wang 21-13, 21-13 in the semi-finals of the women's singles badminton at the London Olympics.
Check out India's schedule on Day 8 of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Thursday.
India's men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth alongwith two other doubles pairs advanced to the semi-finals of the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
P V Sindhu and K Srikanth have been given the top billing in the respective women's and men's singles badminton competitions of the Commonwealth Games
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men's singles quarter-finals that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
Check out India's schedule on Day 7 of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Wednesday.
The Jwala Gutta-led Delhi Smashers weakened Banga Beats' hopes of a semi-finals berth after they defeated the hosts 4-1 in the inaugural Indian Badminton League in Bangalore on Sunday.
Srikanth, now ranked five, was placed seventh before the Malaysia Open, where he lost his last-four clash to the reigning Asian champion Kento Momota.
