P V Sindhu ended her campaign with a consolation win at the BWF World Tour Finals but Kidambi Srikanth had a disappointing finish
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.
The World No 11 Srikanth will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round.
Ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap suffered a major blow to his Olympic qualification hopes when he retired hurt midway through the German Open pre-quarterfinals at Mulheim an der Ruhr on Thursday.
Rio Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu entered the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Super Series after posting a hard-fought victory over Singapore's Xiaoyu Liang even as Saina Nehwal bowed of the competition on Friday, ending all hopes of a Saina-Sindhu semi-final battle.
Fifth seeded Sindhu, who made early exits from China and Korea last month, has been pitted against Michelle Li, who remains a tricky customer despite the fact that Sindhu has a 5-2 head-to-head record against the world no 9 Canadian.
India's shuttlers enjoyed a mixed day at the Australian Open Super Series as Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth progressed to the second round but four others were knocked out in the first round itself, in Sydney, on Wednesday.
H S Prannoy stunned World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in straight games to storm into the men's singles quarterfinals but India suffered huge setback in women's event with both Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu crashing out of the Indonesia Super Series Premier in Jakarta on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal guided the Indian women's team to a dominating 5-0 win over Germany to stay on course for a knockout berth in Uber Cup, but the men's team suffered a narrow 2-3 defeat against Hong Kong, staring at an early exit in Thomas Cup badminton tournament in Kunshan, China.
A fighting H S Prannoy edged out Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama to progress to the semi-finals but two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu couldn't find a way to get past her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
The win ensured Srikanth's dominance over his younger countrymate as he took his head-to-head record to 3-0 over Lakshya.
In other matches, former Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth's fight lasted just 35 minutes as he went down 12-21, 17-21 to 24-year-old Ng Ka Long Angus in the second round. It was his third loss to the World No 15 from Hong Kong.
Sameer Verma stunned World No. 3 Jorgensen to enter the final, while Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu brushed aside local shuttler Cheung Ngan Yi's challenge to make the title round, her second final seven days.
Newly-crowned Korea Open champion P V Sindhu dished out another splendid performance edging past Japan's Minatsu Mitani for the second time in as many weeks to reach the second round of the women's singles at the Japan Open Super Series, in Tokyo, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The Hong Kong Open finalist, Sameer reached the quarter-finals with a shocking 21-17, 21-15 win in a 40-minute match.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
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