The new women's doubles pairing of Shruti Kurian and Aparna Balan was the lone blip in an otherwise great start by India in the biennial Sudirman Cup badminton tournament in Guangzhou, on Monday. India rolled over Australia 4-1 in their Group 3 (sub-group 3B) opener in their quest for promotion to Group 2. India raced ahead to victory in the first four matches before Kurian and Balan went down.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal thumped Hung Yung Chan of Hong Kong in straight games to sail into the quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open in Hyderabad on Thursday. Women's second-seed Saina rode on the unforced errors of her opponent and thrashed her 21-8, 21-8 to set up a quarter-final clash with fifth-seed Xian Wong of Malaysia.
Indian shuttlers had a field day in the KLRC Bulgarian Grand Prix in Sofia. Aditi Mutatkar, in the women's singles, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas, in the men's doubles, and the mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta entered the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal cruised into the singles second round but Shruti Kurian and Jwala Ghutta bowed out of women's doubles at the World Badminton Championships.
Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian entered the last 16 after their top seeded opponents pulled out of the World Badminton Championship.
They won the men's and women's team titles in the 58th Inter-State National badminton championships.
Jwalla Gutta and Shruti Kurian were the lone Indians to taste success on the opening day of the World badminton championships.