Thomas Cup final: India vs Indonesia
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth secured straight game wins
Kidambi Srikanth scored a stunning straight-games victory over world No. 4 Lee Zii Jia but Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Osaka, on Wednesday.
Lakshya Sen said the win against reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng gives him confidence and belief in the Olympic qualification year.
'The boys did it. First-ever Thomas Cup for India.'
The Birmingham showpiece will be held from July 28 to August 8.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is returning from an ankle injury, begins her campaign against former World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the first round of Malaysia Open.
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.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu stormed into the women's singles second round at the Swiss Open with a straight-game win over Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt in Basel.
Earlier, the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy suffered their second successive loss in the event, going down fighting 19-21, 20-22 to Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva to bow out of contention.
India's fancied shuttlers didn't break a sweat on way to completing a 5-0 sweep of Pakistan in their mixed team campaign opener at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday.
Sindhu ended a rally with a forehand smash on Goh's left to make it 21-20 before the Malaysian netted a return.
PM Modi met in person and interacted with the badminton squad
The fifth seed Indian lost 21-12, 10-21, 19-21 in his opening round men's singles tie that lasted 56 minutes.
Sindhu expectedly faced no resistance from Uganda's Husina Kobugabe, winning 21-10, 21-9 in her pre-quarterfinal match.
Srikanth lost to Ireland's unseeded player Nguyen Nhat 11-21, 21-15, 12-21
Kidambi Srikanth created history as he became the first Indian man to enter the World Badminton Championships final after edging compatriot Lakshya Sen in a thrilling semi-final, in Huelva, Spain on Saturday. Srikanth rallied after losing
India's double Olympic medallist superstar PV Sindhu reached the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open Super 1000 tournament in Odense on Thursday after three hard-fought games against her opponent from Thailand.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will lock horns with Japan's Koki Watanabe, while Sourabh Verma faces France's Toma Junior Popov.
India's top shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth registered straight-game victories to make impressive starts to their singles campaigns at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Bali on Wednesday.
However, it was curtains for former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap after he went down 10-21 19-21 to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
None of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouth-watering opening round clashes to look forward to.
Srikanth made an attacking start after the change of ends, putting his smashes to good use, to lead 5-1. Two tight smashes on either side helped the Indian to maintain his lead to 8-3 before he entered the break with a healthy seven-point advantage when Axelsen went to the net.
Interestingly, this was Prannoy's first-ever win against Sen in three head-to-had meetings so far.
Kidambi Srikanth's experience at the Thailand tour has been far from pleasant
The Badminton Association of India are hoping to finalise the duo's appointments by the end of this month.
HS Prannoy breezed into the quarter-finals with a stunning straight-game win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the Japan Open Super 750 tournament.
Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu stayed on course for an elusive gold medal, while Laskhya Sen entered his maiden final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday.
The celebration of this historic feat was not yet over when Indian shuttlers scripted yet another jaw-dropping show in Birmingham, returning with six medals, including three golds, a silver and two bronze medals in August.
India's men's badminton lifted the Thomas Cup title with a commanding 3-0 win over powerhouse Indonesia
Srikanth made a good start in the second game, moving to 7-3 advantage but Lee once again turned the tables, jumping to 13-9 and kept his nose ahead to eventually shut the doors on the Indian.
Srikanth fought better in the second, but Yew was too good on the day, to emerge triumphant.
P V Sindhu and Lakshya Sen sailed into the second round but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth on a mixed day for India at the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris on Wednesday.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Friday recommended Kidambi Srikanth for the Khel Ratna award after the top Indian shuttler apologised for pulling out of a tournament midway and show-caused his teammate H S Prannoy for slamming the federation after not being nominated for the Arjuna honour.
Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will meet compatriot HS Prannoy in his opening match, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will square off against a qualifier.
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.
With Srikanth's defeat, the Indian challenge in Hong Kong also came to an end.
In the men's doubles however, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to 11th seeded Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 11-21, 16-21 in a second round match that lasted 41 minutes.
However, the Indian duo of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan suffered a crushing 8-21, 4-21 loss to Denmark's Mathias Thyrri and Mai Surrow, the mixed doubles first round match lasting barely 21 minutes.
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