Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Rankireddy and Shetty, who created history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian men's doubles pair to win a BWF Super 500 tournament, are placed ninth in the men's doubles rankings issued on Tuesday.
Top Indian shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal, started the new year on a winning note, reaching the second round of the season-opening Korea Open Premier Super Series in Seoul on Wednesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the second round of the women's singles at the Asian Games after steamrolling Lydia Cheah of Malaysia in the second round in Guangzhou on Wednesday.
Placed 22nd in the world rankings P Kashyap is aware of the tough challenge that awaits him in the upcoming Olympics, but the ace Indian shuttler still feels he has a good chance of finishing on the podium in London, courtesy his recent good showings on international stage.
Olympics-bound Parupalli Kashyap lost in the first round, as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed opening day at the Singapore Open, on Wednesday. Kashyap, who shocked top seed Chen Long of China in straight games to make the last eight of the Indonesia Super Series before losing in the semis, was beaten 12-21, 18-21 by second seed Hyun Il Lee of Korea in 37 minutes.
Saina Nehwal looks set to cap a remarkable year on a high. The ace Indian shuttler entered the semi-finals of the BWF World Super Series Finals with a fine straight-game win over Juliane Schenk of Germany,in Shenzhen, China, on Friday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal remained on course for her second title of the season as she reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold with a straight-games victory over Sapsiree Taerattanachai in Bangkok on Friday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal got a shot in the arm ahead of next month's Olympics as she lifted the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold title after rallying to beat Thailand's Ratchanok Inthanon in the final of the event in Bangkok on Sunday.
Top Indian shuttler Chetan Anand crashed out of the World Badminton Championships with a disappointing straight-game defeat against a lowly-ranked opponent in the men's singles first round in Paris, on Tuesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging comeback and notched up a straight games victory over Minatsu Mitani of Japan to advance to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Super Series.
The other Indian shuttlers who participated in the singles events of the Super 1000 tournament have already left Thailand while the doubles players will fly out on Monday.
H S Prannoy lost a three-game thriller to China's Weng Hong Yang in the men's singles final.
India's Saina Nehwal cruised into the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships, defeating Russia's Ella Diehl in the third round of the women's singles event in Paris on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal continued her irresistible form to claim her third straight title in as many weeks. The Indian ace won the Indonesia Open badminton Super Series in Jakarta on Sunday, beating Japan's Sayaka Sato 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in the final. Join us in congratulating the rising star of Indian sport.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal clinched her second Super Series title, winning the Singapore Open with a straight-game triumph over qualifier Tzu Ying Tai in the final on Sunday. The top seed Indian ace needed just 33 minutes to beat Chinese Taipei's Tai 21-18, 21-15 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu's giant-killing spree came to a halt after she went down fighting to World No. 9 Jiang Yanjiao in the women's singles semifinals of the Li Ning China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou on Saturday.
Saina Nehwal bagged her first title of the year, clinching the Swiss Open Grand Prix gold trophy with a straight-games victory over Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in the final in Switzerland on Sunday.
Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth failed to make it to the main draw of the Li Ning China Masters. He went down fighting to Huan Gao of China in the qualification round of the men's singles at Changzhou on Tuesday. Huan will take on London Olympics quarter-finalist and Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist P Kashyap of India on Wednesday.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will spearhead the women's challenge in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games while London Olympics bronze winner Saina Nehwal did not expectedly feature in the squads.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal overcame a jittery start to defeat spirited Korean Seung Hee Bae and enter the second round of the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
Parupalli Kashyap, who became the first Indian shuttler to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics Games, has said he draws inspiration from London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal. Kashyap, who received the Arjuna Award in a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday, also said he is aiming to break into the top-15 of world badminton ranking by the end of this year.
On Wednesday, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, seeded eighth, scraped past the Denmark duo of Amalie Magelund and Freja Ravn 21-9, 17-21, 21-19 in the women's doubles.
The 29-year-old Saina, an Olympic bronze medallist, had finished runner-up in the tournament last year, losing to Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-Ying in the final.
With a hat-trick of international titles and a career-best world ranking of number three, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has already achieved the targets that she had set for 2010, a jubilant national coach Pullela Gopichand said on Sunday.
Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap started his Olympic campaign in style, getting the better of Belgium's Yuhan Tan in straight games in a Group D match in London on Saturday. The 25-year-old Hyderabadi took just 38 minutes to see off Tan 21-14, 21-12 at the Wembley Arena.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal came from behind to notch a hard-fought victory over Juan Gu of Singapore in a first round match at the Malaysian Open Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. The fourth seed won 19-21, 21-14, 21-15, in 56 minutes.
Emerging Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma continued his dream run at the Syed Modi Memorial India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament by stunning 16th seed Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand, to storm into the final of the men's singles event, in Lucknow, on Saturday.
Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma continued his giant killing spree as he shocked seventh seed Yun Hu 23-21, 21-19 to breeze into the men's singles semi-finals of the Syed Modi Memorial India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Friday.
Saina Nehwal overcame a stiff challenge from Germany's Juliane Schenk to enter the final of the Hong Kong Super Series on Saturday. Second seed Saina registered a hardfought 21-19, 17-21, 21-12 victory.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal failed to sustain her impressive touch as she suffered a straight-game defeat at the hands of world No 1 Yihan Wang of China in the semi-final of the Malaysian Open Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur.
Two-time champion Saina Nehwal demolished Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in straight games to storm into the final of the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton tournament for the fourth consecutive year in Jakarta on Saturday.
Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
It is Sindhu's first final since winning the gold and the Commonwealth Games last year.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal touched a new high on Thursday as she zoomed into the top-five of the world rankings at a career-best fifth spot following her stupendous show in the All England Badminton Championships earlier this month.
The 29-year-old Olympic bronze medallist and World No 9 went down 16-21, 23-21, 4-21 to her 19-year-old opponent in the women's singles match.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a comfortable straight-game victory over Hong Kong's Pui Yin Yip to start her India Open Super Series campaign on a positive note, in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal is sweating it out a bit more in training ahead of the Yonex Sunrise India Open because the ace Indian shuttler says she sometimes forgets her strokes.
She might be in red-hot form after her recent title wins but ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal feels past record won't matter when she begins her campaign in the World Badminton Championship in Paris on Tuesday.
Despite all her success, badminton ace Jwala Gutta laments lack of support from the Badminton Association of India.
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