Young shuttler Sourabh Verma created the biggest upset of the day when he sent Athens Olympics bronze medallist Sony Dwi Kuncoro packing in straight games in the first round of the Indian Open Super Series in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Top badminton stars, including two-time All England champion Tine Baun of Denmark and world No.4 Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro will participate in the inaugural edition of the US$ 1 million Indian Badminton League.
Rising Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma stunned world number eight and home favourite Peter Gade in straight games to enter the second round of the Denmark Open badminton tournament in Odense, Denmark.
P V Sindhu and H S Prannoy entered the quarter-finals of the women's and men's singles respectively in the Macau Grand Prix Gold after hard-fought victories on Thursday. However, it was curtains for B Sai Praneeth, who went down fighting to Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, in his third round men's singles match.
Chetan Anand and Trupti Murgunde bowed out after losing their first round singles matches at the World Badminton Championships at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina trounced Malaysia's Jin Wei Goh 21-12, 21-14 in 37 minutes to set up a women's singles quarter-final with 2013 World champion and second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. In the men's singles, Srikanth defeated Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-19, 21-12 in 34 minutes.
The Awadhe Warriors virtually assured itself a berth in the semi-finals but it turned out to be a disappointing day for the Hyderabad Hunters in the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) here today. The Warriors registered an emphatic 4-1 win over Chennai Smashers in the evening match but the Hunters were out of contention for a semi-final berth following their 1-4 loss against Mumbai Rockets early in the day at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad. Awadhe gained two points with a win in the Mixed Doubles clash, which was the Trump match for both sides, and bagged two more points by defeating Chennai in Men's Doubles and one of the two Men's Singles' matches.
With the Premier Badminton League all set to kick-start on January 2, India top shuttler PV Sindhu said the new format of 15-point games will make the ties interesting and keep the shuttlers on their toes.
Denmark's Mathias Boe is extremely annoyed. And in his anger this shuttler from Denmark has vowed to not visit India after appearing in Thomas Cup next year.
It was a mixed day for Indian shuttlers at the Japan Super Series as Ajay Jayaram, H S Prannoy and K Srikanth fought their way to the second round of the men's singles competition in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu was the only bright spot on a dismal day for Indian badminton as she progressed to the quarter-finals with a straight-game win at the US $350,000 Thailand Open World Super 500 tournament in Bangkok on Thursday.
Defending champion P V Sindhu and fellow-Indian H S Prannoy marched into the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles respectively at the US $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold on Friday.
Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal entered the second round of women's singles with a comfortable victory but P V Sindhu suffered an upset defeat in the opening round to crash out of the US $750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney on Wednesday. In men's singles, India's Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma made the second round with contrasting victories, but it was curtains for qualifier R M V Gurusaidutt as he failed to cross the first round hurdle. Saina, who had won the Australian Open title in 2014, hardly broke a sweat in her opening round game as she outplayed Joy Lai of Australia with a dominating 21-10 21-14 win in just 29 minutes. The seventh seeded Indian will clash with Malaysia's Jin Wei Goh in the second round. However, World No. 10 Sindhu was stunned by South Korea's Kim Hyo Min, ranked 40th in the world, 15-21 19-21 after a 55-minute battle.
Home-grown icons Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap, along with some international stars such as Lee Chong Wei, would be the top draws at the Indian Badminton League's players' auction to be held in New Delhi on Monday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Defending champion Saina Nehwal entered the pre-quarterfinals but it turned out to be a disastrous day for the men with all of them, including reigning champion K Srikanth, failing to cross the opening hurdle at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series badminton.
Chennai Smashers qualified for the semifinals after beating Bangalore Top Guns 3-2 in the last league match of the Premier Badminton League 2016 at Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu entered the second round easily but it was Anand Pawar and K Srikanth who created a flutter at the Japan Open as they notched up stunning victories over their higher-ranked opponents in the men's singles competition in Tokyo.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Saina Nehwal's wish to be in her home team came true as Hyderabad Hotshots bought the Indian star for USD 120,000 but world number one Lee Chong Wei proved to be the costliest, going to Mumbai Masters for USD 135,000 in the inaugural Indian Badminton League's players auction on Monday.
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