Rediff.com gives you a glimpse of the stars that lit up the night at the awards ceremony...
Rediff.com takes you through a photographic journey of all the exciting sporting moments that unfolded over the last seven days.
Indian badminton star and Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was Thursday ruled out along withParupalli Kashyap from the 12th South Asian Games due to injury concerns, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) informed the local organisers in Shillong. "We've received a communication from BAI stating that the entire badminton squad except for Saina and Kashyap is arriving on Friday afternoon," SAG (Shillong) joint CEO FR Kharkongor told PTI. Saina and Kashyap are two of the top badminton athletes for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio. Jwala Gutta has been confirmed as the captain of the Indian team by BAI President Akhilesh Das Gupta.
Jwala says Sindhu should scan through all the videos of her past matches and work on her strategy.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Wednesday threw his weight behind beleaguered athlete Dutee Chand, saying they stand with the sprinter and will strongly pursue her case.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, among others, lavished praise on Kidami Srikanth for claiming the Australian Open title with a stunning win over reigning Olympic and world champion Chen Long.
On March 11, the government issued a revised travel advisory, cancelling all visas till April 15 and making it clear that Indian nationals returning to the country from affected countries would be quarantined for 14 days. England is among the most-affected by coronavirus outbreak. P V Sindhu was given the choice of pulling out of All England Championships after the Indian government's travel restrictions came into force but the Olympic silver-medallist decided to play on
Pullela Gopichand says a good mix of foreign and Indian coaches is important for the development of the system but strongly believes that 'second best' overseas recruits will only produce the second best players.
I don't want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond, Gopichand retorts to PV Sindhu's father's allegations of unsatisfactory training.
Kidambi Srikanth, the top-ranking male Indian shuttler who put up an impressive performance in the Badminton Asia Team Championships here, says he aims to achieve a medal in the coming Rio Olympics. "As early as possible, but I am not in a hurry to do that (achieve number one rank in world rankings). It's just that I need to perform consistently. "Then, I will automatically get that. I don't want to become number one (immediately). I want to perform really very well. That's when I can be there (at the top)," the 23-year-old shuttler told PTI. Srikanth, who is currently ranked nine in the world, led the Indian team to semi finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships. He was the only one to win a match in the five-match tie in the semi finals against Indonesia on Saturday. Srikanth remained unbeaten in the tournament. He said he doesn't think much about expectations.
India's foreign coach for badminton Agus Dwi Santoso says he will not be able to implement his plans for the Tokyo Olympics with only four shuttlers at his disposal, and wants the Sports Authority of India to allow more players in the national camp.
In an open letter, BWF secretary general Thomas Lund said the decision to go ahead with the All England Championships was made based on the best advice at that time. "It has been very disappointing to see some members of the badminton community speculate on the sincerity and motives of the BWF in this time of crisis," Lund wrote.
Winning an elusive Olympic gold in Tokyo next year is PV Sindhu's top priority but reigning world champion's immediate target is to do well in the coming tournaments as this is the qualifying year for the quadrennial extravaganza.
Reigning World champion P V Sindhu on Monday said she was completely blank after winning a second successive Olympic medal and it took her a while to realise the enormity of her historic achievement in the ongoing Games.
The Telugu superstar also unveiled a website to create awareness and also engage his fans in the initiative.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday admitted that it was tough for him to manage two of his illustrious wards Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu together, saying he could never pick a favourite between the two. Gopichand said he always saw the duo as his kids and felt bitter when Saina left his academy to join Prakash Padukone's academy.
Milkha Singh, 92, best known as the 'Flying Sikh' and most remembered for finishing fourth in the 400m final in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, was bestowed with the lifetime achievement award.
The Badminton World Federation's proposal to reduce on-court coaching and tweak the scoring system has left international coaches a confused lot with the likes of Pullela Gopichand and Kenneth Jonassen questioning the very logic of such a move.
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
Lauding PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik for winning medals at the Rio Olympic Games, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, on Sunday, said it is the beginning of a wonderful journey for the duo.
'Coaches have been trying to create match situations like when it is 18-all or 19-all. I am focusing on how I have to play and win those moments, so I hope it will help.'
The Hyderabad Open badminton tournament, scheduled to be held from August 11 to 16, was on Thursday cancelled by the world body BWF in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The event was part of the BWF's revised calendar to restart the sport after the pandemic-forced cancellations since March.
The Badminton World Federastion (BWF) unveiled a revised international calendar to salvage the remainder of the season, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Age-fudging has been a big problem in Indian sports
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who has been training under Vimal Kumar for the last one week, wants the former chief coach to travel to Incheon, Korea with her for the upcoming Asian Games.
Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the first chief minister of new Andhra Pradesh at a function at Nagarjuna Nagar, 18 kms from Vijaywada on Sunday.
Besides the duo, 2017 World Weightlifting Champion in the 48kg category, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and former Asian Games gold medallist tennis player Somdev Devvarman were conferred with the Padma Shri award.
Her frequent losses in the finals and the accompanying criticism does not affect ace shuttler PV Sindhu, who, on Saturday, said playing in the summit showdown of a tournament itself is 'a big achievement'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hosted British royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton for lunch to the accompaniment of classical music.
PV Sindhu will open her campaign against South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, while Saina Nehwal takes on Scotland's Kristy Gilmour in the first round.
Jwala Gutta said that before comparing ourselves to badminton giants like China and Japan, India should look to improve the quality of doubles' players. Jwala also questioned the logic of holding the national camp only at the Gopichand academy.
Vimal Kumar said he will miss working with Saina Nehwal but stressed it is important to support the Indian ace in her pursuit to excel at the highest level.
India men's dream run in the ongoing Badminton Asia Team Championships came to an end after a 1-3 semi-final loss to Indonesia, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.
Having beaten two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan to clinch the China Open title, India's latest badminton star K Srikanth said he is now confident of doing well in the future.
India's P V Sindhu hopes no one will ever question her ability to win big titles, relieved at breaking the finals jinx with a historic triumph at the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
With the coronavirus pandemic halting all sport activities, India's former chief badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday urged the government to allow the Olympic-bound athletes to continue their training after conducting the required tests. Following the respective directives of the Talengana and Karnataka governments, the Pullela Gopichand academy in Hyderbad and Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore have been shut down for two weeks.
'I think for the next generation to come up, we need to put a system in place which actually identifies and nurtures talent. We have grown exponentially but there is lot more which needs to be done' 'It's not only my academy, all academies across the country are running full. There are many, many parents who want their kids to give up everything and concentrate on badminton'
Indian badminton national coach Pullela Gopichand feels PV Sindhu can do much better in terms of her defensive ability as she faces world number three Nozomi Okuhara in the Olympic semi-finals on Thursday.
Kim had developed a good rapport with Sindhu, who time and again acknowledged the Korean's role in her success.
India captain Virat Kohli will like to 'play for another 10 years' if he is able to train as hard as he is at this point of time in his career.
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