India's campaign at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament ended after P V Sindhu and Anand Pawar lost their respective women's and men's semi-final matches in straight games in New Delhi on Saturday.
Saina Nehwal breezed into the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open, scoring a 21-15, 21-17 victory over Japan's world No. 2-ramked Akane Yamaguchi on Thursday.
The Indian kabaddi contingent made an impressive start to its campaign at the 18th Asian Games with the women's team mauling Japan and the men's side beating Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Jakarta on Sunday.
Fourth seed Saina Nehwal made a shock first round exit from the China Open as Indian challenge ended in the singles events of the prestigious badminton tournament, in Shanghai, on Wednesday.
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.
Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
With the main draw of the Asian Badminton Championships set to get underway from Wednesday, the struggling Indian shuttlers face an uphill task.
As many as five singles players, including Aditi Mutatkar and Ajay Jayaram, and two doubles pairs, reached the pre-quarter-finals as India had a resounding day at the Vietnam Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Ho Chih Minh City on Wednesday.
The Indian women's team qualified for the quarter-finals in the Uber Cup badminton tournament despite a 2-3 defeat to 2014 runners-up Japan in their third and final Group D match, in Kunshan, China, on Wednesday. The men's team, however, continued its dismal run in the Thomas Cup and crashed out after being blanked 0-5 by Indonesia in their third Group B match at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium.
India shuttler Kidambi Srikanth believes the days of domination of Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei are over and the tournaments are more wide open than ever.
India's Chetan Anand scored an easy straight-game victory over Andrew Smith of England to cruise into men's singles final of Yonex Sunrise India Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Hyderabad on Saturday. The unseeded Indian did short work of his English opponent 21-16 21-9 in the semi-final to set up a summit clash against Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand on Sunday.
Ajay Jayaram got off to a rousing start in the men's singles at the World Badminton Championships, shocking higher-ranked Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong, in Guangzhou, China, on Monday. The 25-year-old Indian, ranked No 24, beat the world No 12 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 in 64 minutes, at the Tianhe Indoor stadium.
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad will begin her campaign against China's Li Xuerui, a former Olympic gold medallist and World No 1.
India's star shuttler H S Prannoy doesn't want to think about Paris right now and is instead focussing on "short-term targets" like breaking into the world's top three.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Indian shuttlers had a mixed day in the opening round of the China Open with Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu easing into Round II, while Kidambi Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram making early exits.
While the top names in badminton haven't openly discussed mental health and wellbeing issues in the way that gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka have done of late, Olympic expectations nonetheless weigh heavily on some.
For the first time in the history of badminton, two Indians will clash in a Super Series final with Kidambi Srikanth taking on B Sai Praneeth at the Singapore Open, in Singapore, on Sunday.
India ace Kidmabi Srikanth clinched his third Super Series Premier title with a dominating straight-game victory over Korean veteran Lee Hyun II in a lop-sided final of the US $750,000 Denmark Open, in Odense, on Sunday.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal celebrated her No 1 ranking by beating Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon to clinch the India Open $275,000 Yonex Sunrise Super series event at the Siri Fort sports complex in New Delhi on Sunday.
India made a resounding start to their campaign at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold with four Indian shuttlers advancing to the second round of the men's singles competition, in Basel, on Wednesday.
Ace Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal on Thursday stormed into the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships after their straight-game victories over their respective opponents in the women's singles event in Birmingham.
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round, but it was a disappointing day for India's men as two of them made an early exit from the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton, in Shah Alam, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
On a comeback trail, Saina Nehwal made a resounding start to her campaign at the Hong Kong Super Series, advancing to the second round of women's singles with a hard-fought win over Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram continued his rampaging run at the Korea Open notching up a sensational straight-game upset victory over world No 7 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei to storm into the finals of the $ 600,000 Super Series event, in Seoul, on Saturday.
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.
PV Sindhu's gallant effort to become India's first ever World Champion ended in a heart-wrenching defeat against Nozomi Okuhara in an epic final, in Glasgow, on Sunday.
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.
On Saturday, Sen had become only the fifth Indian after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980, 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) to reach the final of the prestigious tournament after outwitting defending champion Lee Zii Jia in a gruelling semi-final.
The Indian badminton team went down fighting against hosts South Korea (1-3) in the women's team badminton semi-finals to settle for their maiden bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon on Sunday.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued their winning run at the Malaysia Open notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition at the USD 550,000 Super Series Premier tournament.
Vijayveer Sidhu, 16, shot a gold in the 25m standard pistol event for junior men after combining with Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu and Adarsh Singh to claim the team gold on the last day of the ISSF World Championships.
'When we are playing at our best, it's very difficult to beat us.'
The World No 25 pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag put a gallant fight in the second game but couldn't stop the two-time All England Champions from Indonesia, going down 12-21, 24-26 in a 42-minute match.
India's two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu romped into the women's singles semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament with an easy victory over Turkey's Neslihan Yigit, in Bali, on Friday.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal stamped her authority to storm into the final of the French Super Series outclassing German Juliane Schenk in straight sets in the women's badminton singles in Paris.
