Seven Indian shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta, officially earned qualification berths for the August Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after the much-awaited BWF world rankings were released on Thursday. Friday's rankings were used to determine the Olympic qualifiers in each of the five categories -- men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles -- from the points accumulated in the period between May 4, 2015 and May 1st, 2016. Four years ago, five Indians had qualified at London Olympics. This year, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina would be representing India in her third Games, while the women's doubles pair of Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa will also play their second Olympics in August. Besides, K Srikanth and P V Sindhu earned their maiden Olympic berths in men's singles and women's events respectively. For the first time, India will have two women's singles players playing in the Olympics.
Tanvi Sharma's bid to script history by winning a gold medal at the BWF World Junior Championships ended in heartbreak as she lost in straight games to Thailand's Anyapat Phichitpreechasak
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu has pulled out of the upcoming Badminton Asia Team Championships, dealing a major blow to Indian team's medal chances at the tournament beginning next week.
They beat the United States 4-1 in the Sudirman Cup.
India lost to Poland in the play-off for promotion in the World Mixed Team Badminton championships, for the Sudirman Cup.
Tanvi will take on top seed Beiwen Zhang of the United States in the final.
Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama, who trains P V Sindhu, had a narrow escape after an explosion occurred close to where they were stationed at Dubai Airport while travelling to Birmingham for the All England Championships.
Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama, who trains P V Sindhu, had a narrow escape after an explosion occurred close to where they were stationed at Dubai Airport while travelling to Birmingham for the All England Championships.
'Once you are out of the top 32, it becomes very tough to get back. Last year I couldn't really get entries into the 750 tournaments. To start this year with one is a positive step.'
Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen discusses the need to adapt his training and recovery strategies due to the physical demands of modern badminton, following his runner-up finish at the All England Open.
India made a disappointing start in the Asian Badminton Championships with Sayali Gokhale and P C Thulasi crashing out of the qualifying round of the women's singles at the Suwon Indoor Stadium in Korea on Tuesday.
Young Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty put up a spirited fight before going down in three games against France's Toma Junior Popov on a disappointing day for the Indians at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Odense, on Tuesday.
Young Indian shuttler Shriyanshi Valishetty clinched her maiden BWF Super 100 title in the women's singles category at the $120,000 Al Ain Masters, defeating compatriot Tasnim Mir in a pulsating three-game final in Al Ain, the UAE, on Sunday.
Satwik and Ashwini, who reached the semi-finals at Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 in January, will meet the winner of the match between fifth-seeded Malaysians Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing and Germany's Jones Ralfy Jansen and Kilasu Ostermeyer.
Rising Indian shuttler Anmol Kharb's impressive run at the Arctic Open Super 500 badminton tournament ended with a straight-game loss to three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi in Vantaa, Finland, on Saturday.
Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty showed nerves of steel to stun Olympic silver medallists Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in their opening Group B match at the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday.
India's women's and men's badminton teams suffered defeats in the Badminton Asia Team Championships, ending their campaigns in the quarterfinals. The women's team lost to China, while the men's team was defeated by Korea.
Sindhu, Sameer progress to quarters, Kashyap ousted
Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, R M V Gurusaidutt and Sai Praneeth entered the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after victories over their respective opponents.
Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar have tough opening matches in the World badminton championships.
Chetan Anand, Nikhil Kanetkar, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Aparna Popat made an exit for the All England Badminton Championships.
Rajasthan's Sanskar Saraswat clinched his maiden Super 100 title after eking out a three-game victory over fellow Indian Mithun Manjunath in the men's singles final of the Guwahati Masters in Guwahati on Sunday.
The Badminton World Federastion (BWF) unveiled a revised international calendar to salvage the remainder of the season, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arvind Bhatt stunned world No 8 Joachim Persson of Denmark and Saina Nehwal beat Thailand's Salakjit Ponsana in first round singles matches at the Hong Kong Super Series badminton championships.
A gold medallist at the 37th National Games, Mannepalli was trailing 4-7 in the first game before rallying to 12-9. He then took control and scored six straight points from 15-11 to seal the game.
Sen, who had broken the three-year jinx of first-round exits in the tournament when he defeated Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh on Wednesday, succumbed in the pre-quarterfinals against Hong Kong-China's Lee Cheuk Yiu 22-22, 15-21 in 53 minutes.
The Indian won 21-7 21-7 in the summit clash that lasted just 38 minutes.
World Junior C'ships: Gnana Dattu, Bhavya-Vishakha reach quarters; Tanvi, Unnati also advance
Tanvi, Unnati and Bhargav Ram-Viswa Tej to lead strong Indian line-up in BWF World Junior Championships
India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand says the draw hardly matters if the shuttlers are focused on gunning for a medal at the Olympics. He believes that it will boil down to two good back-to-back matches under pressure to earn a medal at the Rio Games, starting August 5.
'Of late, we have not been very happy with the performance of the players,' the chief National Coach said.
They beat Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 in a preliminary league match of the badminton competition.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
The Indian shuttlers will face Asian U-19 mixed team champions Indonesia in the semi-finals.
India's top men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded third, also progressed without taking the court after receiving a walkover from USA's Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith.
They beat Wales 4-1 in their last group match in the Sudirman Cup.
India beat Austria 4-1 in their opening match in the Sudirman Cup.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Verma beat his Taiwanese opponent 21-18, 21-14.
Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy will represent India in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the young shuttlers said they would settle for nothing less than a gold in the inaugural edition of mega-event starting on August 13.
