Top Thai shuttler Ratchanok Intanon pocketed her second Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super Series title with a straight-game victory over Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the women's singles final at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
Ajay Jayaram suffered a shock first round defeat to lower-ranked Chinese Yuekun Chen in the China Masters in Changzhou on Thursday.
India's men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth alongwith two other doubles pairs advanced to the semi-finals of the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
Top seed K Srikanth made a rollicking start to the new season as he clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold with a convincing win over China's Huang Yuxiang in the men's singles final in Lucknow on Sunday.
The prestigious awards recognise the achievements of the elite badminton players
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
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.
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
The biggest upset of the day was produced by Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi, who knocked out Olympic champion and last year's finalist Carolina Marin 21-12, 21-19, in a 48-minute clash.
Expectations from the Indian male shuttlers will also be high, given their exploits in recent months.
The 2021 All England Open will be the second tournament this year to offer ranking points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, after the Swiss Open.
Parupalli Kashyap continued his impressive run to advance to the semi-finals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament, even as young H S Prannoy was left ruing his luck as a foot injury forced him to concede his quarter-final, on Friday.
Her reluctance to appear for BAI trials could well end her chances of representing the flag
He is known to be a demanding coach but Pullela Gopichand is of the opinion that Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu's odd defeats can't be termed as her failure, not even by a single per cent.
Leander Paes feels India will find it tough in singles but the country can hope to win a medal in the Asian Games
P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to enter the quarter-finals of the US $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Penang, on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Seasoned Indian ace Saina Nehwal and the fast-rising H S Prannoy notched up contrasting wins in the women's and men's singles competition respectively to reach the All England badminton championships' second round at Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.
Brimming with confidence, India will again look to punch above their weight when they run into 14-time winners Indonesia in the final of Thomas Cup in Bangkok on Sunday, seeking to create history one more time.
India's Lakshya Sen on Thursday progressed to the quarter-finals of the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham, while HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
Led by young flag-bearer Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, the athletes, clad in blue suits, waved to the crowd with small flags in their hands.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu lost in straight games to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the summit clash of the $ 350,000 Thailand Open World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament, in Bangkok, on Sunday.
After Indonesia and South Korea on Friday joined Thailand, Australia, Chinese Taipei and Algeria in pulling out due to the dreaded disease
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu set up a mouth-watering summit clash with Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin after a hard-fought win over World No 4 Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the semi-finals of the India Super Series, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.
The 19-year-old Indian came up with a splendid display but it was not enough to prevent him doing down 17-21, 21-16, 17-21 after 55 minutes.
PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Championships
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 shuttler Ajay Jayaram overcame Rajiv Ouseph of England to enter the men's singles final of the $50,000 Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix, in Almere, The Netherlands.
A team mate of Japanese badminton Olympic medal hope Kento Momota on Friday confessed to taking the world number two-ranked player to an illegal casino and tearfully begged officials to allow the star to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
The Rio Olympics gold medallist had withdrawn from the All England Championships this year after suffering the injury during the Swiss Open.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal retained third place in the latest world badminton rankings, announced on Friday.
World champion P V Sindhu remains India's best Olympic medal prospect but she has to give more attention to her recovery process between matches to achieve the feat at the Tokyo Olympic Games, said former India badminton coach Vimal Kumar.
P V Sindhu cemented her position as a dominant force on the world stage with an Olympic silver medal while Saina Nehwal continued to battle with injuries in a year, which saw Indian badminton take giant strides at the global platform. It turned out to be a watershed year for Sindhu, who reached the upper echelons of world badminton with a silver medal at Rio Games -- an achievement also for her mentor and chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who became the only Indian coach to produce two Olympic medallists. On the other hand, for the first part of the year, it was Saina's battle with injuries which dominated the headlines even though she was considered to be the best bet for India at Rio. The Indian ace fought against time to recover from an Achilles tendons and went on to win the Australian Super Series.
HS Prannoy becomes the first player to beat Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Victor Axelsen in full a match since March.
Pusarla Sindhu romped into the final of the World Badminton Championships, trouncing China's Chen Yu Fei 21-7, 21-14 in semi-finals, in Basel, on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday.
P V Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to reach the final at the Olympics when she shocked Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games in the women's singles at the Rio Games on Thursday. The two-time World Championships bronze medallist scored a sensational 21-19, 21-10 victory over the All England champion in 49 minutes.
