Young men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too entered the quarter-finals after getting past Chinese Taipei's Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng 21-17, 21-16 in the second round.
A summary of sportspersons in the news on Sunday.
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.
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.
Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu reached the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
Former American great Chris Evert has no issue with tournaments handing Maria Sharapova wildcard entries as the Russian former world number one makes her way back from a doping ban, she said on Wednesday.
Top Indian shuttlers, including world champion P V Sindhu, will be able to hit the courts from July 1 if the Telangana government allows the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to organise a national camp in Hyderabad. With COVID-19 cases surging in Hyderabad, the Telangana government, as a precautionary measure, extended the lockdown till June 30 but it meant the resumption of the sport got further delayed for the top players in the state.
Rediff.com brings you a glance of all the action from the week gone by.
Two-time defending champion P V Sindhu remained on course for retaining her title as she reached the semi-finals with a hard-fought three-game win over China's Chen Yufei at the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold tournament in Macau on Friday.
Parupalli Kashyap came up with a brilliant performance to shock world No 7 Zhengming Wang of China in the US $250,000 India Super Series badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Wednesday.
Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the semi-finals of the $55,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition in Calgary, Canada.
The lone athlete to start outdoor training after relaxation in lockdown guidelines, sprinter Dutee Chand only has the "eerie silence" of the stands for company as she tries "to wake" her body up at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The 24-year-old Dutee began outdoor training on Monday after the Odisha government gave permission as per relaxed guidelines for COVID-19 lockdown's fourth phase, stepping out for the first time on a synthetic track in two months.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap reached the second round of Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after scoring easy victories in Lucknow.
HS Prannoy notched up a thrilling three-game win over Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap in an all-Indian final to clinch the $ 120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold in Anaheim, California.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso congratulated Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel on his fourth successive Formula One world title on Sunday but reserved judgement on where the German stood among the greats.
Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel gave a planned new electric series a firm thumbs-down on Saturday, saying silent motor racing left him cold.
Ecstatic after clinching a maiden Grand Prix title at the Brazil Open, the Indian mixed doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra have set their sights on winning a medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Williams on Monday appointed Karun Chandhok as its 'heritage driver', a role that will see him behind the wheels of the team's historic Formula One cars for testing and exhibition purpose.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal survived an early scare from Indonesia's Dinar Dyah Ayustine to book her place in the quarter-finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Thursday. After going down in the first game, the London Olympics bronze medallist rebounded strongly to register a 17-21, 21-18, 21-12 win over her Indonesian opponent in the women's singles clash that lasted about an hour.
OGQ has launched a crowd funding campaign to assist training and preparation of their potential medal winning athletes -- Irfan KT (Race Walking), Vikas Gowda (Discus Throw), Ayonika Paul and Pooja Ghatkar (both Rifle Shooting).
Denied entry into a restaurant on the basis of his skin colour recently, former Grand Prix driver-turned TV expert Karun Chandhok says more awareness needs to be created against racism through Formula 1 though it has already taken "impressive" steps to address the issue.
Neeraj Chopra broke his own meet record while Sable set a new national record time of 8 minutes 20.20 seconds to win the 3000m steeplechase
A foot injury early in the year derailed her plans but ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu is happy to make a successful comeback with a good performance at the Denmark Super Series Premier and a third successive Macau Grand Prix Gold title.
Former national champion Arvind Bhat entered the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold finals after registering a thrilling three-game victory over Chinese Taipei's Tien Chen Chou in the men's singles in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Defending champion P Kashyap bowed out while top seed K Srikanth entered the semi-finals but it was the stunning win of doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar over their World No 8 opponents from Denmark that was the highlight of the day at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Friday.
Announces tentative calendar; defers elections
Saina Nehwal produced one of her finest performances in recent times to guide Indian women's team to a comfortable victory over Thailand and catapult the hosts to the top of Group Y in the Uber Cup badminton tournament in New Delhi.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia will be the first in more 35 years to be held without spectators after organisers introduced tighter measures to protect against the coronavirus. Here is a list of international sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
Saina Nehwal crashed out of the All England Championship after her gallant fight against World No. 3 Korean Sung Ji Hyun ended with a narrow 20-22, 20-22 loss in the women's singles quarter-finals of the Super Series Premier event in Birmingham.
RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka thinks aloud about what Vijay Mallya could or should do to get out of the current mess.
Saina Nehwal continued her consistent run in international circuit, reaching yet another semi-final at the $ 200,000 Asia Badminton Championship, in Wuhan, China, on Friday.
Rediff.com brings you the second instalment of the Best Sports Photos of the Year!
Top seed Saina Nehwal and her compatriot B Sai Praneeth crashed out of their respective quarter-final matches to draw curtains on India's challenge at the the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Friday.
It was a day of mixed fortunes for India's badminton players at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament as Sai Praneeth sneaked into the quarter-finals after a hard-earned victory while compatriots Ajay Jayaram and R M V Gurusaidutt lost their respective men's singles matches.
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.
Shot-putter Tajinder Singh Toor on Monday qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a new national record at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap emerged as the lone survivor at the Japan Open in an otherwise disappointing day for India as top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the Super Series tournament in Tokyo, on Thursday.
Mexican Formula One driver Sergio Perez described his Force India team's financial situation as 'critical' on Thursday, and recognised that his own future remained uncertain.
India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign with a dominating straight-game win in the opening round of the Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold in Saarbrucken, Germany.
China's wrestlers will not be taking part in the Asian Championships beginning in New Delhi on Tuesday as they have not been granted visas by the government due to the novel coronavirus outbreak there, a top official of the national federation said on Monday. Wrestling Federation of India assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said that the government has denied visas to the 40-strong Chinese contingent.