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Former Commonwealth Games badminton champion Parupalli Kashyap has expressed strong support for Pullela Gopichand's recent comments on the challenges faced by middle-class families, emphasising that his coach's remarks accurately reflect the harsh realities of India's sporting ecosystem. Kashyap pointed out that the lack of a safety net for athletes, who don't reach the top, is a significant issue and described Gopichand's call for caution as "pragmatic, not pessimistic. "Gopi sir's recent remarks about the challenges middle-class families face in pursuing sports as a career resonate deeply with the realities of India's sporting ecosystem," the 2014 CWG champion posted in X'. "He's absolutely right to highlight the lack of a safety net for athletes who don't reach the top. In a country where success in sports outside of cricket rarely guarantees financial security or societal respect, his call for caution is pragmatic, not pessimistic. "The middle class, often tethered to the ...
Without the services of an injured PV Sindhu, India will face an uphill task in pursuit of an elusive gold medal at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships which gets underway here on Tuesday. India hope to improve on their bronze medal finish from the previous edition where Sindhu played a key role in Dubai two years ago. Her absence this year due to an injury will be a significant setback as the team embarks on its campaign in the prestigious biennial event. Sindhu sustained a hamstring injury during a pre-tournament training camp in Guwahati on February 4, forcing her to withdraw from the tournament at the last minute. Her unavailability puts the onus on world No 29 Malvika Bansod to step up in women's singles. Placed in Group D, India will open their campaign against Macau on Wednesday, followed by a clash with a strong Korean outfit on Thursday. A top-two finish in the group will secure a spot in the quarterfinals, and while India is likely to progress to the last eight, ..
Two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu has pulled out of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in China due to a hamstring issue, dealing a huge blow to the country's chances of improving the colour of their medal in the prestigious edition. The tournament is set to be played in Qingdao from February 11-16 with the Indian shuttlers currently undergoing training at a camp in Guwahati. Besides Sindhu, the other leading players in the camp are Lakshya Sen, and HS Prannoy, along with the formidable doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Sindhu was a part of the squad that won bronze in the previous edition of the tournament. "It is with a heavy heart that I share I won't be travelling with the team for BAMTC 2025. While training on the 4th (February) in Guwahati, I felt a twinge in my hamstring. Despite my efforts to push through with heavy taping for our country, an MRI has revealed that my recovery will take slightly longer than I initially expected,"
An inconsistent Lakshya Sen faltered in his opening match, while HS Prannoy endured a frustrating start to the season-opening Malaysia Super 100 badminton tournament as his opener against Canada's Brian Yang was suspended midway due to a leaking roof at the Axiata Arena on Tuesday. Lakshya, coming off a title win at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow and a third-place finish at the King Cup International, failed to replicate his recent form and succumbed to Chi Yu-jen of Chinese Taipei, losing 14-21, 7-21. The Indian shuttler's game was riddled with unforced errors, leaving him with little chance against the 27-year-old. Prannoy, returning to action after the Paris Olympics, was leading 21-12, 6-3 when rainwater began seeping through the roof, forcing play to be stopped on Court 3 about 25 minutes into the match. After a delay of over an hour, play resumed around 4:15 PM, but the match was halted again as the leak persisted. Yang was leading 11-9 in the second game when offici
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen moved a step closer to clinching the women's and men's singles title respectively, registering straight-game wins to advance to the semifinals of the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament here on Friday. Top seed Sindhu, a two-time champion at the event (2017, 2022), defeated China's Dai Wang 21-15, 21-17 in a 48-minute women's singles quarterfinal. Lakshya, the 2021 World Championship bronze medallist, also dominated his match, beating compatriot Meiraba Luwang Maisnam 21-8, 21-19 in the men's singles quarterfinal. Today's match was important. Even though she is a low-ranked player, it doesn't matter. I have rectified my mistakes from yesterday, what went wrong I have not made those again today. I was aggressive from the beginning. Overall, I am happy with my game compared to yesterday, Sindhu said. Sindhu is ranked 18th in the world while Wang is at 118th. "Yesterday, it was a rough patch at some point of time. But
Former world No.1 doubles shuttler Chirag Shetty termed the exclusion of badminton from the 2026 Commonwealth Games curriculum a wrong decision, and questioned how the organisers could do away with the most popular sport in the event. The 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Tuesday unveiled a heavily scaled-down roster, excluding hockey, shooting, cricket, badminton and wrestling from the curriculum, a move which will severely hurt India's medal prospects at the quadrennial event. "I think it's a very bad decision, to be honest. I can say for badminton, I think it's the most watched sport. It's definitely one of the most watched sports in the Commonwealth Games," said Chirag, who along with partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is the 2022 Birmingham CWG men's doubles champions, besides being the mixed team gold medallist at Gold Coast in 2018. He said the popularity of the sport in CWG could be gauged from the fact that virtually all badminton competitions are played in front of a packed
Double Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu will have South Korean great Lee Hyun Il as her consulting coach on interim basis as she bolstered her coaching team ahead of her anticipated return to action next month. The move came after the recent appointment of Anup Sridhar as Sindhu's interim coach. The duo will be in Sindhu's coaching team till December 2024. A decision on a permanent coaching team is expected by that time. Sindhu is expected to return to competitive action at the Finland Open and Denmark Open, both in October. Hyun Il, a former world No. 1 and Sindhu's teammate during the Premier Badminton League (PBL), brings vast international experience and a reputation for meticulous preparation. He is a 2006 world championships bronze medallist in singles and has two Asian Games team gold medals in 2002 and 2014. His inclusion, alongside Sridhar, was aimed at creating a dynamic coaching duo that blends experience, tactical precision, and deep knowledge of the sport. Both the
PV Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games. Sindhu, who returned from the French capital without a medal for the first time in three Olympics, has been training under Sridhar, a Beijing Olympian, for the past three weeks at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad. "I spoke with Sindhu's team a few weeks ago, and she has been training under me in Hyderabad since the start of this month. We've made significant progress, and in two weeks, we'll head to tournaments in Europe," the 41-year-old Sridhar, who also briefly coached Lakshya Sen, told PTI. Sindhu lost in the pre-quarters to China's He Bingjiao at the Paris Games and will restart her BWF world tour season with the European leg, which includes the USD 420,000 Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland (October 8-13), and the USD 850,000 Denmark Open (October ...
The Badminton Association of India announced on Tuesday a total reward of Rs 50 lakh for the para shuttlers who secured medals at the Paris Paralympics last month. Indian para shuttlers won five medals, including one gold, two silver and as many bronze, at the Paris Games. Nitesh Kumar, who clinched the coveted gold in the men's Singles SL3 category, will receive a prize of Rs 15 lakh, while silver medallists Suhas Yathiraj (men's singles SL4) and Thulasimathi Murugesan (women's singles SU5) will each be awarded Rs 10 lakh. Bronze-medal winners Manisha Ramadass (women's singles SU5) and Nithya Sre Sivan (women's single SH6 category) will each receive Rs 7.5 lakh. Thulasimathi, Manisha and Nithya made history by becoming the first Indian women shuttlers to secure medals at the Paralympics. "Indian para badminton players have been performing consistently on the world stage and the cash rewards are just one way for BAI to recognise their efforts in helping the country win medals at t
Rising Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a straight-game defeat to Canada's Brian Yang as he made an opening-round exit from the China Open here on Tuesday. The 22-year-old Indian, who won the Orleans Master last year, went down 13-21 16-21 to his Canadian opponent in a 36-minute men's round-of-32 contest of the Super 1000 tournament. Rajawat, the world number 36, was a member of the Indian team that won the historic Thomas Cup title two years ago. World number 40 Kiran George is now the lone Indian challenger left in the men's singles event. He will take on Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto in the round of 32. The Indian shuttler, who competed at the Paris Olympics including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, are giving the tournament, the year's last BWF Super 1000 event, a miss. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist duo of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly and Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda will compete
Ace Indian shuttler and former Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal has revealed that she is battling arthritis and will have to decide on her future in badminton by the end of this year as the ailment has made it impossible for her to train the usual hours. The 34-year-old former world No.1, who was the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal with her bronze in London 2012, participated in three editions of the Games before being hampered by injuries. The 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist said she can no longer overlook the fact that her career is in its final leg. "The knee is not very good. I have arthritis. My cartilage has gone to a bad state. It is very difficult to push for eight-nine hours," Nehwal said on the 'House of Glory' podcast hosted by shooting great Gagan Narang, who was India's chef-de-mission in the recent Paris Olympics. "How will you challenge the best players in the world in such a state? I think I will have to accept it somewhere. Becaus
India will be sending a 39-member squad to the Badminton Asia (U-15/U-17) junior championships in Chengdu, China, from August 20-25 with an aim to create a strong pool of players ahead of next year's World Junior Championship, which the country is hosting. The Indian contingent, which was picked after extensive selection trials in Bengaluru, will be led by Gnana Dattu and Tanvi Reddy Andluri in the U-17 category, while Shyam Bindiganavile and Tanvi Patri will be the top singles players in the U-15 category. In the last edition of the BAC championship, which was held in the same city, India had bagged one gold, one silver and one bronze with Bornil Changmai standing atop the U-15 boy's singles podium. The Indian contingent left for Chengdu on Saturday after an extensive preparatory camp at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati under the watchful eyes of the Indian and foreign coaches. Speaking about the team's chances, Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay ..