Top Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy were knocked out of the 18th Asian Games after suffering shock defeats in the second round of the men's singles competition, in Jakarta, on Friday.
The shuttlers led by Saina Nehwal will make their first appearance in the Olympic Games on Thursday along with men golfers as India still waits for its first medal after five days of fruitless labour in this Brazilian city.
Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu reached the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in Basel.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) shut down the world tour and other sanctioned tournaments following the completion of the All-England in March due to the global health crisis.
Path-breaking tennis ace Sania Mirza takes pride in the fact that many of India's sporting stars, outside cricket, are women even though she believes that it will take a few more generations before being a sportswoman is seen as a natural career choice in the country. The winner of six Grand Slam titles, spoke on a range of issues including the role of parents and attitude of coaches towards women players during a webinar organised by the All India Tennis Association and the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
India's No 1 shuttler Saina Nehwal has been seeded fifth and compatriot P V Sindhu ninth in the women's singles at the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In the men's draw, Kidambi Srikanth, who is ranked world No 11, is seeded ninth.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram emerged as the lone survivor at the Korea Open after he defeated Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent to reach the quarterfinals of the men's singles event even as P V Sindhu bowed out of the Super Series tournament, in Seoul, on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal crashed out of the All England Championship after her gallant fight against World No. 3 Korean Sung Ji Hyun ended with a narrow 20-22, 20-22 loss in the women's singles quarter-finals of the Super Series Premier event in Birmingham.
Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when the seventh India Super Series badminton tournament gets underway with the qualifiers in New Delhi on Tuesday.
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.
Here are some of the other events -- in pictures -- that made news last week.
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.
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.
P V Sindhu said she still has lots to learn and needs to add a few more shots to her repertoire to dominate world badminton.
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.
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.
The Indian saw off World No 3 Chen Yufei 21-19, 21-10 to enter her first final of the season.
Saina, who was looking good at the start of the season, was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis with mild pancreatitis which affected her performance at the All England Championship.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
'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'
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.
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.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
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.
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.
10 achievers who made the cut in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
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.
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.
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.
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.
