Former World No 1 Saina Nehwal stayed on course for the women's singles title at the season-opening Malaysia Masters after she advanced to the semi-finals of the $US 120,000 Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Sarawak, Malaysia.
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.
P V Sindhu took the opening game 21-11 before Akane Yamaguchi, who was wearing a knee brace, decided to pull out of the match.
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu will miss the Swiss Open as she recovers from travel disruptions in Dubai. H S Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will lead the Indian challenge.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal notched up her first title after a career-threatening injury by claiming the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold with a hard-fought victory in the summit clash in Sarawak, Malaysia, on Sunday.
This was Sindhu's second consecutive loss to Tzu Ying. Saina was no match for Carolina Marin, who took exactly half-an-hour to dispose of the Indian's challenge, beating her 8-21, 7-21.
Ayush Shetty won a silver medal at the Badminton Asia Championships, losing to Shi Yu Qi in the final. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable achievement for the unseeded player.
Ayush Shetty of India won a silver medal at the Badminton Asia Championships after losing to China's Shi Yu Qi in the final. Despite the loss, it was a successful tournament for the young player, who defeated several top-ranked opponents.
India's Saina Nehwal produced a dominating performance to notch up a straight-game victory over Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin and storm into the final of the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold.
Rising player Lakshya Sen went down to Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
Top Indian shuttlers, PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the women's singles quarter-finals and men's singles pre-quarterfinals, respectively, of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Kuching.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is likely to miss the All England Championships due to travel disruptions caused by airspace closures in the Gulf region.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu has pulled out of the upcoming Badminton Asia Team Championships, dealing a major blow to Indian team's medal chances at the tournament beginning next week.
Top seed Unnati Hooda, former champion Srikanth advance at Syed Modi International
Lakshya Sen's title win, a World Championships medal from Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty offered hope amidst a difficult 2025 for Indian badminton.
Kidambi Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from compatriot and 2023 National champion Mithun Manjunath in a pulsating semi-final clash to enter the semi-finals.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is set to miss the All England Championships after being stranded in Dubai due to travel disruptions. Other Indian shuttlers face challenges reaching the tournament.
'After consulting closely with my team and with the guidance of the incredible Dr Pardiwala, we felt it was best for me to withdraw from all remaining BWF Tour events in 2025.'
Unnati Hooda humbled fourth seed Hsiang Ti Lin of Chinese Taipei in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the Hylo Open on Friday.
yush Shetty and former World championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen advanced in the Australian Open in contrasting fashion to set up an all-Indian quarterfinal clash.
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men's singles quarter-finals that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
'Once you are out of the top 32, it becomes very tough to get back. Last year I couldn't really get entries into the 750 tournaments. To start this year with one is a positive step.'
'My aim is to stay on the World Tour year by year. I am not thinking about the 2028 Olympics'
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Sindhu has been off colour this year, struggling for form.
Satwik and Chirag, who finished runners-up in last week's Hong Kong Open, eked out a 24-22, 21-13 victory over Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in 42 minutes
A fast and fluent Lakshya Sen ended a difficult stretch on the international circuit by defeating Japan's Yushi Tanaka in the men's singles final of the US $475,000 Australian Open Super 500 and clinching his first title of the season, in Sydney, on Sunday.
Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi claimed his maiden Super 750 title in men's singles, while World No. 1 An Se Young of South Korea underlined her supremacy by securing the women's singles crown at the $950,000 India Open, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
But it was end of the road for Sen's compatriot Kiran George, who lost 20-22, 10-21 to Malaysia's Jing Hong Kok.
Sindhu regained control in the decider, maintaining a steady lead to close out the contest and secure a hard-fought win in 62 minutes.
"The world sees the medal....": PV Sindhu on her Olympic career
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand battled past Malaysia's Cheng Su Hui and Tan Zhing in a tough opening round match.
The Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand retained the women's doubles crown but Kidambi Srikanth's hopes of snapping an eight-year title drought went up in smoke as he suffered a heartbreaking loss in the final of the Syed Modi International Super 300, in Lucknow on Sunday.
Srikanth enters quarterfinals of Canada Open Super 300
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament after losing to Malaysia's Man Wei Chong and Tee Kai Wun in the quarter-finals.
Kidambi Srikanth went down fighting to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-19, 14-21, 18-21 in the semi-finals of the Canada Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Calgary on Saturday.
Kidambi Srikanth enters second round of Canada Open
Shetty had earlier shocked former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games in his opening round.
Tanvi Sharma stuns Okuhara, Manraj Singh oust Prannoy to make quarters.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his impressive run to enter the men's singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over top seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei at the Canada Open.
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