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.
After a string of disappointing results, PV Sindhu parted ways with coach Park Tae Sang
Srikanth blew two game points in the second game to lose 7-21, 20-22 to Axelsen in the men's singles summit clash.
PV Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games.
Sindhu dished out a compact game to outwit Sayaka 21-17, 21-16 in a second round match on Thursday to set up a clash with seventh seeded Chinese He Bingjiao.
The Badminton Association of India is optimistic about China's participation in next month's India Open despite fears surrounding the deadly coronavirus as Chinese shuttlers are in quarantine for almost a fortnight in Europe.
Defending champion Lakshya Sen pulled out of the SaarLorLux Open Super 100 tournament after his father-cum-coach D K Sen tested positive for COVID-19 in Saarbrucken.
World No. 15 Sindhu, who will be eyeing her third Olympic medal at the Paris Games in two months time, will face second seed and world no. 7 Wang Zhi Yi of China in the summit clash.
'The last five years have been great, it has been a lovely journey. There have been lots of ups and down but I have learnt a lot, experienced a lot, improved a lot.'
The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.
Srikanth showed great determination to outwit Korea's World No 25 Lee Dong Keun 12-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a second-round clash that clocked an hour and 13 minutes. The Indian had lost twice to the 27-year-old Korean in the past two meetings.
Returning to action after a break, double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu saw off Turkey's Neslihan Yigit in straight games to join compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma in the second round of the Denmark Open in Odense on Tuesday.
Both Sen and Srikanth are fighting to be inside the top 16 by April 28 next year to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Besides, the BAI also recommended renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches -- S Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu -- for the Dronacharya Award.
The unseeded Indian duo stunned local favourites Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen 21-19, 21-15 in a 43-minute quarter-final clash.
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
The Indian team, comprising Olympic hopefuls PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth, have been allotted training timings. The players also had their first gym session in the afternoon.
The Indian duo ran-up a 7-2 lead early on, before entering the break at 11-7. Satwik and Chirag continued to move ahead and eventually grabbed the opening game.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Kidambi Srikanth entered the men's singles semi-finals at the Hong Kong Open after fifth seed Chen Long of China decided to quit the contest owing to an injury, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
Commonwealth Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won a bronze medal at the World Championships in August, will play Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han, who got the better of England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15, 21-14 in the other semi-final.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty enjoyed another memorable 'Evening in Paris', lifting the French Open badminton crown for the second time with a dominating straight-game victory over Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the men's doubles final in Paris on Sunday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
The accident took place just after Momota had won the Malaysia Masters title.
Lakshya Sen has been in incredible form in the last six months.
Sindhu and Saina will once again be India's best bet as they look to put up a good show this week.
Star India shuttler P V Sindhu made an exit from Thailand Open after going down in straight games to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in the semi-finals in Bangkok on Saturday.
As the Indian national anthem reverberated across the St Jakobshalle stadium, Sindhu stood at the podium with moist eyes.
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.
Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy stunned Olympic silver medallists Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia to enter the quarterfinals of the $ 700,000 Japan Open badminton tournament, in Tokyo, Wednesday.
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu hopes the Commonwealth Games will serve as a perfect launchpad in her quest to regain the World Championships crown next month.
Lakshya Sen has worked on his "speed and variations" to be battle ready for the new season.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games champion, was trailing 8-14 in the third game when he chose to retire after pulling his calf muscle.
India's Lakshya Sen secured his maiden Super 500 title by winning the Yonex-Sunrise India Open with a stunning straight-game victory over reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men's singles final in New Delhi on Sunday.
The BWF was forced to cancel multiple tournaments and postpone the Asia leg and the World Tour Final to January next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the quarter-finals of the French Open after suffering straight-game defeats in their respective matches as India's campaign ended in the singles events.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu is set to fly out of London on Sunday -- she will reach Bangkok via Doha.
Sindhu yet again struggled to buck the trend of early exits
