India's No 1 shuttler Saina Nehwal has been seeded fifth and compatriot P V Sindhu ninth in the women's singles at the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In the men's draw, Kidambi Srikanth, who is ranked world No 11, is seeded ninth.
It will not be a Saina Nehwal versus P V Sindhu final in the women's singles but the men's singles will be an all-Indian affair with P Kashyap and K Srikanth set to clash for the title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow.
Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal produced a dominating performance to lift her second title of the season, winning the $ 750,000 Star Australian Super Series after beating Spain's Carolina Marin in the summit clash Sydney on Sunday.
For all her achievements, says Bikash Mohapatra, Saina is yet to win either the Worlds, Olympics or All England, badminton's flagship events.
However, a tough contest awaits the former world No. 1 as he faces top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan next.
India's PV Sindhu, drawn in easy group, faces Israel's Ksenia in opener.
Following P V Sindhu's silver and Sakshi Malik's bronze medals at the Rio Games, we look at India's women athletes, who have been at the forefront of India's Olympic dreams.
A rematch of the All England final between India's Saina Nehwal and world champion Carolina Marin is on the cards with the two stars given first and second seeding in the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries to be played from March 24.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal reached the women's singles semi-finals with a comfortable straight-game win, but compatriot P V Sindhu failed to cross the quarterfinal hurdle in the $750,000 Star Australian Super Series, in Sydney on Friday.
Kidambi Srikanth's experience at the Thailand tour has been far from pleasant
'If I want to achieve something -- and my aim is to achieve the Olympic gold -- then I would do anything for it. It means everything to me.'
Defending champion Saina Nehwal sailed into the semi-finals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier after a straight-games victory over Carolina Marin of Spain, in Jakarta, on Friday.
With Marin suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) -- the ligament that stabilizes the knee -- and world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying also recuperating from a wrist injury, Vimal feels Indian duo of Saina and P V Sindhu will have a great chance to end India's wait for an All England title.
The Indian contingent's schedule at the Rio Olympics for Friday.
Sindhu will face either Spain's three-time world champion Carolina Marin or Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei next.
The double Olympic medallist is looking forward to better results following her first round exit from the Malaysian Open.
This is the third time this year that Sindhu has been knocked out in the first round of the tournaments she's played.
They will serve as a rifleman, machine gunner and mortar Marine.
The government rewarded badminton star Saina Nehwal with Rs 25 lakh for reaching the final of the prestigious All England Open Championship in March.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) President Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta announced a reward of Rs. 50 lakhs for P V Sindhu after she settled for a historic silver medal at the Rio Olympics. BAI also announced a reward of Rs. 10 lakhs for Dronacharya awardee coach Pullella Gopichand who trained Sindhu to achieve this feat. The World No. 10 lost to Spain's Carolina Marin by 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in the thrilling final match held at Riocentro. This is India's first silver Medal in Badminton.
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.
This was Sindhu's second consecutive loss to Tzu Ying. Saina was no match for Carolina Marin, who took exactly half-an-hour to dispose of the Indian's challenge, beating her 8-21, 7-21.
Thank you, Sindhu, for inspiring us with your passion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, praised Saina Nehwal after the ace Indian female shuttler suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the final of the All England badminton championships.
Sindhu beat fourth seeded Blichfeldt 22-20, 21-10 in 43 minutes
India's biggest sporting legends Sachin Tendulkar, Abhinav Bindra and Vishwanathan Anand hailed PV Sindhu for her valiant performance in the Olympic final against world number one Carolina Marin. Abhinav Bindra in his message for Sindhu said that he wasn't as heartbroken after missing out on a medal himself as he is today (Saturday). India's only individual Olympic gold medallist tweeted: "I think I'm more heartbroken today (after Sindhu's loss in final) than I was a week ago! Well played @Pvsindhu1 you are an inspiration to me!"
This is the second time in her career, after April 6 this year that Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu has occupied the second spot on the leaderboard.
P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth continued their impressive run at the Malaysia Open, progressing to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles competition with a straight-game wins in the US$ 700,000 world tour super 750 tournament, in Kuala Lumpur.
India's PV Sindhu scripted history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the final at the Olympics when she shocked Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games in the women's singles at the Rio Games on Thursday.
Set to return after an injury-induced break, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is aware the road to Paris will be "challenging" and she needs to be "smarter" in her pursuit of coveted gold medal in the French capital.
Saina dropped two spots to third in the women's singles list, and is placed below Spaniard Carolina Marin (80752), who rose a rung following her Australian Open title triumph.
The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.
Japan's Nozomi Okuhara will be awarded the women's singles badminton bronze medal after China's Li Xuerui pulled out of their clash with a knee injury, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.
United States Defence Department authorities has announced a special court martial for a marine, who was involved in an alleged desecration incident in Afghanistan, wherein he was seen urinating on corpse of Taliban fighters.
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched straight-game victories to progress to the quarter-finals, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the US $700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday.
This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.
The land is located in Shaikpet village of Hyderabad district.
Back in action after recovering from a knee injury, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she needs good match practice to be at her best in the prestigious All England Championship in March. "I am happy with my improvement. My movements are still sluggish. I still need good match practice," she told reporters here late last night after losing to top-ranked shuttler Carolina Marin in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) match. Saina had sustained an intra-articular injury (inside the joint) in her right knee and had lost in the group stage in the Rio Olympics. She later underwent a surgery and was on rehab.
Indian women's team had won a bronze medal at Incheon four years ago and Sindhu hoped they can change the colour of the medal this time when the multi-sport event gets underway on August 18.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P V Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday. Saina, who clinched her second Australian Open title earlier this month, exchanged places with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, who now occupies the sixth spot in the women's singles list headed by Spain's Carolina Marin.
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