World No 1 Lee Chong Wei faced a stiff challenge but eventually stamped his class to prevail over Kenichi Tago of Japan and claim the men's singles title at India Open Super Series badminton tournament in New Delhi on Sunday.
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.
Parupalli Kashyap booked a place in the pre-quarter-finals of the All-England Badminton Championships after a straight games victory over Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei on Thursday. The world No 9 Indian ace won his first round match 21-17, 21-18 in 43 minutes. He now runs into seventh seed Kenichi Tago of Japan.
Gearing up for the All England Championship, India's top male shuttler P Kashyap said the "challenging" draw does not bother him as he can beat anyone on a given day.
Athens Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat has criticised badminton's ruling body in the run-up to this year's London Games after Indonesia crashed out of the Thomas Cup.
Ajay Jayaram beat 15th seed Kenichi Tago of Japan 21-12, 21-19 in a 40-minute first round contest. The unseeded Indian will next meet Vladimir Ivanov of Russia, who defeated Michal Matejka of Slovakia 21-10, 21-6 in another opening round match.
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.
It was curtains for India in the Indian Open Super Series after young shuttlers Sourabh Verma and RMV Gurusai Datt suffered straight-game defeats in the quarter-finals of the men's singles at the Siri Fort Complex on Friday.
Madhya Pradesh lad Sourabh again led the charge, continuing his giant-killing spree with a 21-19, 18-21, 21-11 upset win over seventh seed Kenichi Tago, while Gurusai sent Yuhan Tan of Belgium packing with a 21-13, 14-21, 21-13 defeat.
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.
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.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign on a positive note, advancing to the second round of the women's singles competition but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth in the men's singles category of the All England championship in London.
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.
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.
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.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap stunned world No. 4 Kenichi Tago of Japan by posting a straight-game victory in the first round of the men's singles event while Saina Nehwal registered an easy victory at the French Open Super Series in Paris.
Making their first appearance in the WTA Finals in Singapore, Sania Mirza and Cara Black outplayed Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in their opening match to book their semi-finals berth on Thursday.