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P V Sindhu
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,"
Top seeds P V Sindhu and Lakshya Sen produced commanding performances to claim the women's and men's singles titles, respectively, at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament here on Sunday. Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, ended her long title drought by outplaying China's world number 119 Wu Luo Yu 21-14, 21-16 to lift the trophy for the third time, having previously triumphed in 2017 and 2022. In the men's singles final, Lakshya, a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, was at his dominant best as he demolished Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh 21-6, 21-7 in the title clash, displaying complete command over the match. Sindhu's victory marks her return to the top of the podium after over two years, with her last title win being at the Singapore Open in July 2022. The world number 18 also reached the finals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 earlier this year. Lakshya's win comes as a balm after a disappointing loss in the bronze medal playoff at the Paris Olympics. T
India's chief national coach Pullela Gopichand on Wednesday advised the country's shuttlers not to experiment much in their preparation ahead of the Paris Olympics, while also insisting that two-time medallist PV Sindhu has the potential to shine again at the sporting extravaganza. India will be represented by seven players across four out of five categories in the badminton competition at the Games here. Led by two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu (women's singles), the squad has HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen (men's singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (men's doubles), and Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto (women's doubles). "I think the generic message to all the athletes would be to treat it like another match and it's important that you don't do any strange things for preparation; keep it simple and treat it like another game, get the preparation right and the matches will take care of themselves," Gopichand told PTI ahead of Friday's opening ceremony. Talking about
Two-time Olympic medallist Indian shuttler PV Sindhu crashed out in the women's singles quarterfinals, losing in straight games against China's He Bingjiao at the Asian Games here on Thursday. Sindhu, currently ranked 15th, looked a pale shadow of herself against world No.5 Bingjiao, losing 16-21, 12-21 in just 47 minutes to bow out of the competition. It was Bingjiao whom Sindhu had defeated in straight games to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics but the Chinese has now avenged her defeat on home soil to deny the Indian a chance to better the colour of her previous two Asian Games medals. Sindhu had won bronze and silver medals respectively in 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The first game started on a even knell between the two players as both shared points till six-all before Bingjiao took a 9-5 lead. Sindhu struggled with her court coverage as Bingjiao made the Indian run the entire court and sealed the points with accurate placements and smashes to seal the
On a high after his maiden World Championship bronze medal, Indian shuttler H S Prannoy soared to career-high world ranking of No 6 in the latest BWF rankings published on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Kerala shuttler, who eliminated world Number 1 and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen en route to his maiden World Championships bronze, rose three spots with 72437 points in his kitty. He is also the only Indian shuttler, who has maintained a top-10 rank since December last year. In this period, he has won the Super-500 Malaysia Masters and recently finished runner-up at the Australian Open. Among other Indians in the men's singles, Lakshya Sen's ranking dropped by one place, making him the world number 12, while Kidambi Srikanth maintained his position at 20th despite a making a first-round exit at the World Championships. In women's singles, former world champion PV Sindhu, who also made an opening-round exit at the Worlds, moved one spot to secure 14th rank. In the men's doubles, ...
Double Olympic medallist badminton ace PV Sindhu was on Wednesday named flagbearer of the Indian contingent for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games to be held here on Thursday. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, who was also the defending champion in the Commonwealth Games having won the gold in Gold Coast four years ago, was expected to be the flagbearer. But a groin injury following his silver medal at the World Championships forced him to pullout and the Indian Olympic Association picked Sindhu to be the flagbearer from a three-member shortlist. Tokyo Olympics medalists -- weightlifter Mirabai Chanu and boxer Lovlina Borgohain are the other two athletes, who were also considered before IOA decided to go for Sindhu. "It's with great pleasure that we announce Sindhu as the flagbearer for Team India,"acting IOA president Anil Khanna said in a release. Sindhu was also the flagbearer at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. "The other two athletes, Chanu and Borgohain,