As the year winds down and we start to look forward to the coming year, there are some personalities and events that shaped 2016 -- some struck the right chord whilst others triggered debates, controversies and set rumour mills churning. This year, we, at Rediff.com, have imagined our this year's newsmakers as movie stars and here's them as the stars of some of Hollywood and Bollywood's finest (in some cases, not really).
Defending champion P V Sindhu and fellow-Indian H S Prannoy marched into the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles respectively at the US $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold on Friday.
World No 1 Saina Nehwal is all set to defend her women's singles title at the Australian Open super series .
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round, but it was a disappointing day for India's men as two of them made an early exit from the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton, in Shah Alam, on Wednesday.
'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'
Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu cleared first round hurdles in the women's singles with contrasting victories at the Denmark Open Super Series Badminton Premier, in Odense, on Wednesday. In the men's singles, Parupalli Kashyap cruised into the second round, beating Rajiv Ouseph of England 21-15, 21-18.
Rio Olympic Silver medallist P V Sindhu's brilliant run at the BWF World Super Series Final came to an end after she suffered a narrow defeat against World No 5 Korean Sung Ji-Hyun in the women's singles semi-finals, in Dubai on Saturday.
Indian ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition of the $ 120,000 German Grand Prix Gold in Mulheim an der Ruhr.
India's up-and-coming shuttler P V Sindhu came up with a brilliant performance to shock defending champion Yihan Wang of China and join Saina Nehwal in the women's singles quarter-finals at the World Badminton Championships, at the Tianhe Indoor stadium in Guangzhou, China, on Thursday. Parupalli Kashyap also kept the Indian flag flying in the men's singles, scoring an upset 21-13, 21-16 victory over world No 6 Yun Hu of Hong Kong, in 37 minutes, to also make it to the last eight stage.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Top Indian shuttlers, including K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap in men's singles and P V Sindhu in women's singles, advanced to the second round after easy victories on the first day of the main draw in the Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Wednesday.
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.
Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu scored an upset victory over top seed Ji Hyun Sung in a hard-fought three setter to storm into the women's singles final of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Penang on Saturday.
Young shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth scored contrasting victories to win the women's and men's singles titles respectively at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships in Delhi on Monday.
The Padma Vibhushan for this year has been awarded to a total of seven prominent personalities, while 16 have been given the Padma Bhushan, 118 have been given the Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day this year, they said.
The third edition of the Indian Super League got off to a colourful start with a star-studded opening ceremony even as the fans, wearing their passion for the game on their sleeves, descended at the Indira Gandhi International Stadium to witness the gala ceremony.
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.
10 achievers who made the cut in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
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.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap reached the second round of Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after scoring easy victories in Lucknow.
Indian shuttlers had a bad day at the French Super Series, as Saina Nehwal and three others lost in the second round, in Paris, on Thursday.
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.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday felicitated Rio Olympics bronze medal winner and wrestler Sakshi Malik.
Coffee Board of India has signed on P V Sindhu, P Gopichand and Prabhas and Rana Daggubatti from the Baahubali star cast as brand ambassadors
India's badminton ace P V Sindhu said national coaches need to be more qualified in order to groom more players to become champions in the future.
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.
Sindhu said she is working on her technique to iron out the flaws.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Leading Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their first round matches in contrasting style at the Star Australian Open Superseries in Sydney on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal fought her way back from a game down to win her opening round match while compatriot P V Sindhu crushed her opponent to storm into the second round of the French Super Series in Paris, on Wednesday.
Former World No 1 Saina Nehwal asserted her supremacy over Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu with a straight game victory to enter the semi-finals of the USD 350,000 Indonesia Masters, in Jakarta on Friday.
In the men's draw, HS Prannoy, went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
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.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
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 straight-game victory, Sindhu became the first Indian to achieve the feat.
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu feels the experimental service law in badminton could have come at a better time.
P V Sindhu said she has a strategy in place to outwit the World No. 1 in Tuesday's singles final at the Asian Games final in Jakarta.
