India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand wants Badminton World Federation (BWF) to come up with "radical" solutions to restart the sport smoothly in a post coronavirus world, suggesting that conducting more tournaments at a single venue could be the way forward. The coronavirus outbreak, which has so far infected over 41 lakh people and caused close to 3 lakh deaths worldwide, forced BWF to suspend all events, including the Olympic qualifiers, till end of July.
'Her defence was the one only problem. (Carolina) Marin and Pornpawee (Chochuwong) are good attacking players, they were using a lot of half smash and straight smash, and when Sindhu's defence goes down on a day, it affects her other skills as well, she gets nervous. But now she has improved a lot in her defence as well. Her endurance on the court is also good.'
Chief national coach P Gopichand, on Tuesday, hailed the depth Indian badminton has achieved over the years, saying the team is no more dependent on one or two players.
H S Prannoy outwitted World No 2 and title favourite Kidambi Srikanth in a thrilling final to win the men's singles title at the 82nd Senior National Championship, in Nagpur on Wednesday.
Sindhu, who had won the silver at the World Championship last month, recovered from a mid-game slump to stave off the challenge from World No. 19 Minatsu Mitani of Japan 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 in a match that lasted 63 minutes.
With the two teams arriving in Kolkata in the next 48 hours, all roads in the 'City of Joy' lead to the Eden.
Nehwal has had a troubled run in this year as she has now faced exits from a tournament in the first round five times.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the eighth day of the Asian Games on Sunday.
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.
Indian women shuttlers advanced to the Badminton Asia Team Championship quarter-finals despite a 1-4 loss to Japan in which P V Sindhu notched the country's only win Alor Setar, Malaysia, on Thursday.
Two-time defending champion P V Sindhu remained on course for retaining her title as she reached the semi-finals with a hard-fought three-game win over China's Chen Yufei at the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold tournament in Macau on Friday.
While Olympic and two-time World Championship silver medallist, Sindhu stamped her authority with a 21-12, 21-15 win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the second round, Srikanth got the better off Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in a three-game match.
Priyanka Chopra is the only female in the top ten.
Touched with Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu's gesture to donate Rs 30 lakh from his prize money to his school, Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Monday said that all athletes backed by the government should try to set up academies or centres of their own to inspire the youth. Mariyappan, who scripted history at Rio Paralympics after winning a gold medal in high jump, has donated Rs 30 lakh from his 2 crore prize money towards his government school in Tamil Nadu.
Here are some of the other events -- in pictures -- that made news last week.
Showering praise on Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said these "daughters" were the saving grace of India at the Rio Games. Speaking at the inaugural function of Sauni irrigation project in Sanosara (Gujarat), Modi touched upon several social issues plaguing the country including gender-based discrimination.
This year's IPL was action-packed and Redifff.com reloads some of the memorable moments, in pictures, from this year's competition.
The actor has been named among top fitness influencers in India.
An important factor in India's stupendous success in 2021 was the way the government opened its coffers to support athletes.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was left red-faced during Sunday's felicitation ceremony to award cash prize to Asian Games medallists as the parent body got multiple names wrong on the cheques and even missed out on one.
Pullela Gopichand, who has coached Olympic medallist shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, on Monday said that India can win a bagful of Olympic medals only if sports culture is built in the country through nurturing talent at the grassroot level. Wrestler Sakshi Malik and Sindhu saved India the blushes at the Rio Olympic Games by winning a bronze and a silver respectively.
Kidambi Srikanth, whose stature has grown immensely following a phenomenal 2017, was nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri award by former Sports Minister Vijay Goel.
Confident after winning a bronze medal at the World Badminton Championships, fast rising shuttler P V Sindhu says she is ready to take on her celebrated compatriot Saina Nehwal at the inaugural Indian Badminton League.
PV Sindhu appears 'vulnerable' on the counter-attack and that is a big factor in her losing many a title clashes, including recent loss to Saina Nehwal in the singles final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, observed former India coach Vimal Kumar.
Saina Nehwal produced one of her finest performances in recent times to guide Indian women's team to a comfortable victory over Thailand and catapult the hosts to the top of Group Y in the Uber Cup badminton tournament in New Delhi.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and National champion Sameer Verma began the new season on a resounding note by winning the women's and men's singles crowns respectively at the USD 120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Sunday.
It was a day when India counted the silvers, a total of five, even though there was no gold in the tally.
'I think Sindhu could have won. We had our chances in women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles yesterday and they could have pulled through. I think Kashyap also has had a good run. He has had a good tournament. Considering what has happened in the last year with him, it has been a good comeback'
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced into the second round while Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth made first-round exits at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu lost in straight games to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the summit clash of the $ 350,000 Thailand Open World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament, in Bangkok, on Sunday.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal's ascent to the top of women's badminton was officially confirmed.
When it boils down to matters of discipline, Pullela Gopichand has no peers with PV Sindhu learning it the hard way since her formative years at the legendary coach's academy.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Hailing Pusarla V Sindhu's excellent show right through 2016 that saw her becoming the first and only Indian shuttler to win a silver medal in the Olympic Games, chief national coach P Gopichand said his lanky ward is capable of scaling greater heights. "I have always maintained that even when she won in 2013 or 2014 (back-to-back world championship singles bronze medals) Sindhu is still some time away from being her best. I maintain that even now that she has the potential to do even better," said the former All-England men's singles champion during an interaction with the media in Mumbai.
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Former India badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday blamed the withdrawals by Asian nations for the postponement of the Thomas and Uber Cup Final, calling it a "big setback" for the sport.
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu feels the experimental service law in badminton could have come at a better time.
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
Kiren Rijiju said he would fail as a Sports Minister if India cannot finish inside the top 10 in the medals tally by 2028 Olympics.
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