Saina Nehwal's chances of defending her title at the Commonwealth Games looks bleak as she has decided to skip the selection trials for the upcoming multi-sport events.
Lakshya Sen, returning from a break, suffered a first round exit, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand entered the pre-quarters of the Asia Badminton Championship.
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.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
It was yet another forgettable outing in Tokyo for Praneeth, following his struggles at last year's Olympic Games where he participated without a proper coach or physio to eventually bow out early.
The Indian women's badminton team crashed out of the Uber Cup after losing to Japan in the quarter-finals in Aarhus, Denmark on Thursday while the men completed their group engagements in the Thomas Cup with a defeat to China.
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.
Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals with an easy straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori
India will take on traditional powerhouse China in the final match on Wednesday.
An Indian team which is a nice little blend of youth and experience, will have to punch above its weight in what's going to be an arduous challenge in the Sudirman Cup mixed team championships here on Sunday.
Up against Shruti Mundada in the pre-quarters, Saina had a look at the surface and immediately made it clear that she won't risk playing on it given that the All England Championships are around the corner.
Top Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a straight-game loss to seventh seeded English pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 17-21, 14-21 in a last-8 match.
Services remained on top of the medal table with 41 gold, 28 silver and 26 bronze for a total of 95. Haryana won four of the five gold medals in archery to consolidate their second place with 29 gold.
Sindhu looked in complete control as she prevailed 21-15, 21-11 over world No. 36 Tan in a 29-minute match.
Prannoy and Sen played five times in 2022 with Sen coming into the match with a slender 3-2 advantage.
Following is India's schedule at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, on Thursday, September 28.
World Championships bronze medallist Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and GeeBee Boxing silver medallist Dinesh Dagar (69kg) confirmed their places in the final, while Ankush Dahiya (64kg) and Ananta Pralhad Chopade (52kg) made it to the semi-finals.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
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