Malaysia and India took the top-two spots in their pool to make the semifinals which guarantee them at least a bronze.
P V Sindhu and H S Prannoy entered the quarter-finals of the women's and men's singles respectively in the Macau Grand Prix Gold after hard-fought victories on Thursday. However, it was curtains for B Sai Praneeth, who went down fighting to Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, in his third round men's singles match.
PV Sindhu is keen to work harder on various aspects of her game and put up better performances against top players in the coming year.
A two-time bronze medallist at the World Championships, Sindhu has risen rapidly up the rankings since becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal, at the Rio Games last year.
In sizzling form after clinching the China Open and finishing runners-up at Hong Kong, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu will look to sign off the year with another crown when she competes in the season-ending World Superseries Finals starting in Dubai from Wednesday. In Rio de Janeiro, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win an Olympics silver medal in August, but qualifying for the Dubai World Super Series final still was a far cry as she was placed at 16th in the Destination Dubai Rankings with just two events -- China Open and Hong Kong Open -- remaining.
In mixed doubles, K Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto prevailed 21-18, 21-14 over Macau's Leong Iok Chong and Weng Chi NG to make a winning start.
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.
Disappointed Anirban Lahiri believes Asia on brink of major success.
Harmeet Kahlon continued to be the best among the Indians at the end of the third round of the US $275,000 Macau Open.
Two-time World Championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu lifted her first title of the season by successfully defending the USD 120,000 Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy after seeing off Kim Hyo Min of Korea in the women's singles finals on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Top seeds P V Sindhu and K Srikanth notched up contrasting victories to advance to the third round of the $120,000 Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold tournament, in Malang, on Thursday.
Despite clinching the Macau Open title for the third time, India's ace shuttler P V Sindhu remained static at 12th position in the latest BWF world ranking released on Thursday. Saina Nehwal also held on to her number two position but a poor run of form saw K Srikanth lose a spot and slip to World No. 9.
Top seed K Srikanth advanced to the semi-finals in the men's singles but P V Sindhu suffered heartbreak as she bowed out of the women's singles, at the US $120,000 Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold tournament, in Malang, on Friday.
The Indian squash contingent began its Asian Games campaign with comfortable victories over Singapore and Pakistan.
Back in action after recovering from a knee injury, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she needs good match practice to be at her best in the prestigious All England Championship in March. "I am happy with my improvement. My movements are still sluggish. I still need good match practice," she told reporters here late last night after losing to top-ranked shuttler Carolina Marin in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) match. Saina had sustained an intra-articular injury (inside the joint) in her right knee and had lost in the group stage in the Rio Olympics. She later underwent a surgery and was on rehab.
"It is a great win and a fantastic start to the season for me. I have been playing well and I was confident of winning ahead of the final," said PV Sindhu.
Two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, India's P V Sindhu made a rousing start to the new season as she clinched the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold title after defeating Scotland's Kristy Gilmour in straight games in the final, in Penang, on Sunday.
Saina was awarded a cheque of Rs 25 lakhs for her title-winning performance at the Australia Super Series in 2016, besides becoming the first Indian to become the World No. 1 and reaching the finals at All England champion in 2015.
Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu scored an upset victory over top seed Ji Hyun Sung in a hard-fought three setter to storm into the women's singles final of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Penang on Saturday.
Winning his first national championship 14 years ago is one memory which Arjun Atwal will never forget and the veteran golfer said he can't wait to tee up again at the 50th Hero Indian Open next month as this was the title that made him the star that he is today.
Indian men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh and former skipper of the national women's side Saba Anjum were conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri Award by President Pranab Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Eighteen-year-old Aditi Ashok was the brightest star on the country's golfing circuit this year and was fittingly named the Ladies European Tour's Rookie of the Year for becoming the first Indian to win two back-to-back titles in her first year on the tour. Here is a look back at how India's golfers fared in 2016
'To win a medal, the players will have to play a couple of tough rounds. The draws are fine, and balanced and give us the opportunity to go deep.'
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Indian stalwart Gaganjeet Bhullar will be chasing his third Asian Tour win this season when he tees off in the Indian Open golf tournament in Bangalore on Thursday.
In a bid to keep herself fit for the packed international schedule this year, Indian shuttler P V Sindhu will not be defending her women's singles title at the $120,000 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament to be held at Johor Bahru from March 25-30.
Top stars Saina Nehwal and Lee Chong Wei were the costliest buys, fetching the maximum prize of 100,000$, while Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were bought for a whopping 95,000$ and 80,000$ respectively at the rechristened Premier Badminton League (PBL) players' auction on Monday.
HS Prannoy notched up a thrilling three-game win over Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap in an all-Indian final to clinch the $ 120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold in Anaheim, California.
The 27-year-old signed off on a seven-under-par 64 to sit two shots clear of compatriot S S P Chowrasia and Taiwan's Chan Yih-shin at the 1.3 million Malaysian Ringgit ($400,000) event.
Anirban Lahiri was voted the 2014 'Players' Player of the Year' after a successful season on the Asian Tour, where he won two titles and finished second on the Order of Merit.
P V Sindhu hoped to regain peak fitness before the start of individual events and assured India will return with multiple medals.
It's a man-made marvel! After several delays and budget overruns, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge was officially opened on Tuesday, marking the completion of the longest sea-crossing bridge ever built, nine years after construction began. Here's everything you needed to know about this bridge of steel.
This is the third time the country has qualified for the continental showpiece.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
The Asian Games normally serves as the Olympic qualifiers but there was some confusion after the Hangzhou Asian Games were postponed from last year to this year due to the COVID-19 situation in China.
Star India shuttler Saina Nehwal, who has recovered from a serious knee injury sustained during the Rio Olympics in August and is back on the international circuit, is still not at her physical best and needs more time to reach that high level, feels her coach Vimal Kumar.
China on Sunday ruled out allowing open nominations in elections for the Hong Kong's next leader, in a move that could ignite tension in the Asian financial hub where the democracy advocates have threatened to shut down the main business district in protest.
Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri got off to a brilliant start at the European Tour's six-round Qualifying School Final Stage with a flawless five-under 65 at the par-70 Purple course and was placed second overall among the 156 starters.
