Page 3 - Badminton

PV Sindhu needs to be smarter during challenging Paris Olympics this year

Set to return after an injury-induced break, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is aware the road to Paris will be "challenging" and she needs to be "smarter" in her pursuit of coveted gold medal in the French capital. Former world champion Sindhu has been enduring a lean patch. She has suffered injury setbacks and a dip in form in the last 18 months. She suffered stress fracture on her left ankle during the successful 2022 CWG campaign and later sustained another injury on left knee during the French Open in October last year, forcing her out for three months. "I would say, this Olympics is going to be a different experience because the 2016 and 2020 Olympics were very different. Paris will be more challenging but at the same time, I have much more experience and I will have to be much smarter this time," Sindhu told PTI in an interaction. The 28-year-old from Hyderabad was in Mumbai on Thursday at Great Place To Work's FOR ALL summit. "In women's circuit, players in the top 1

Thailand Masters Badminton: Ashmita Chaliha enters first Super 300 semis

India's Ashmita Chaliha dished out a brilliant performance as she beat Ester Nurumi Wardoyo of Indonesia in straight games to storm into the women's singles semifinals of the Thailand Masters badminton tournament here on Friday. The 24-year-old Chaliha remained the only Indian in the fray after Mithun Manjunath lost his men's singles quarterfinals while the women's doubles pairs of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also exited from the Super 300 tournament in the last-eight stage. World no. 61 Chaliha, who made it to the main draw from the qualifiers, beat Wardoyo, ranked 44th, 21-14 19-21 21-13 in a 57-minute match. The first game saw both Chaliha and Wardoyo fighting on an even keel as they tied the score at 7-7 and 8-8, before the Indonesian took a 14-10 lead. Chaliha fought back and made it 14-14 but she could not stop the Indonesian from taking seven straight points to pocket the first game. The player from Assam made amends in the second game with a superb fight back. She wo

Indonesia Masters: Prannoy to lead Indian charge; Satwik-Chirag pulls out

Singles ace HS Prannoy will spearhead the Indian challenge at the Indonesian Masters Super 500 badminton tournament beginning here on Tuesday after the pull-out of crack doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty Having finished runners-up in back-to-back tournaments of Malaysia Super 1000 and India Open Super 750, the reigning Asian Games champions have given the tournament a miss with an eye on their workload with a gruelling season ahead of them. The duo's absence may have taken some sheen of the tournament, but world No. 9 Prannoy will look to keep the Indian flag high continuing his consistent run. Prannoy is only seeded Indian player at No. 7 in the men's singles draw of 32 as he will begin his campaign against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, against whom the Indian has a 4-1 win-loss record. The world No. 11 Yew's solitary win against Prannoy was at the 2021 World Championships and since then the Indian has won twice in a row with the last coming in bronze-medal ..

Sometimes losing is also better: Satwik-Chirag after India Open final loss

The number two seed Indian duo of Satwik-Chirag want to take this loss as inspiration to do well in the upcoming tournaments, including the Paris Olympics

India Open 2024 Men's Doubles Final: Satwik-Chirag lose three-set thriller

Indian men's doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost yet another final as they went down to world champion Korean pair of Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 21-15, 11-21 and 18-21

India Open 2024: China's Shi Yu Qi ends Yiu's dream run, wins 2nd title

China's Shi Yu Qi beat Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu in straight sets 23-21, 21-17 to win his second India Open title in the men's singles category He first won in 2018 as a 21-year-old

India Open: Tai Tzu Ying beats Olympic champ to win women's singles title

Tai Tzu Ying beat Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China to clinch her maiden India Open title with a straight-sets win

India Open: Thailand's Puavaranukroh-Taerattanachai win mixed doubles title

Thailand pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai lifted their first-ever India Open title as they beat Chinese pair Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin

India Open 2024: Irritating for Prannoy to face Indian peers early on

Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy on Thursday expressed his 'irritation' on facing fellow Indians in early stages of a competition after training against the same opponents, while admitting that not much can be done about it. In the first round of India Open Super 750, after Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat played against each other, Prannoy locked horns with Rajawat on Thursday. In fact, a lot of shuttlers from Japan, Chinese Taipei and China have faced each other in the ongoing tournament which has a draw of 32. "It's always tough to play at 750 level, you're getting a draw like this, where three Indians are in one quarter. It's a little irritating, to be honest," Prannoy said after he reached the quarterfinals here. "But that's how the draws are sometimes and you have to take it like that. This totally depends on tournament software. We have seen a lot of Chinese also playing the first two rounds." Last year Prannoy and Lakshya had faced each other in the early stages of Malaysi

India Open 2024: Prannoy fends off Rajawat, Sat-Chi sail through to last 8

India's top-seeded men's singles player HS Prannoy managed to fend off raging Rajawat in a three-setter while Satwik Chirag had an easy win in their Round of 16 game at India Open 2024

India Open 2024: Upsets galore as world champ, All-England winner crash out

Kunlavut Vitidsar, Li Shi Feng and Jonathan Christie lost their matches against lower-ranked opponents in the men's singles draw of the India Open 2024

India Open 2024: Satwik-Chirag want to change strategy after opening win

Satwik and Chirag were the only Indians to win on Day 2 of the India Open 2024 as the number two seed moved to the Round of 16 in the men's doubles competition

India Open: Has Prannoy conserved enough energy to face raging Rajawat?

India Open 2024 HS Prannoy vs Priyanshu Rajawat Preview: The two players are differently built and a have huge experience gap. Who will outclass the other in an all-India affair?

India Open 2024: How Ashwini, Crasto won hearts with subtle racket exchange

The Indian women's doubles pair of Ashwani and Crasto had the crowd swooning to their tunes at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in Delhi but were unfortunate to lose a three-set thriller

Poor net play, unforced errors push Kidambi Srikanth out of India Open 2024

India's Kidambi Srikanth lost to Hong Kong's LKee Cheuk Yiu in straight sets 24-22, 21-13, but not before showing some sparks of his brilliance

India Open 2024: Mentor Vimal Kumar to get Lakshya new coach post Olympics

Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will have a new coach after the Paris Olympics, said his mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar, who has taken over the duties till the Summer Games. The 22-year-old from Almora has parted ways with Anup Sridhar, who was hired at the beginning of the year keeping in mind the Paris Olympics in July-August. "Anup was hired till Olympics but Lakshya wanted to try out few things, so they mutually decided to part ways," Vimal told PTI on Tuesday. "He needs to have a younger coach travelling with him. But there is hardly any time. So we will be able to hire someone only after the Olympics. I will be travelling with him till the Olympics." Sen is currently ranked 17th in the Olympic Games qualification rankings and needs to stay inside the top 16 by April-end to make the Paris Games cut. Commonwealth Games champion Sen claimed the Canada Open Super 500 title in July, besides three semifinal finishes at the Thailand Open Super 500, US Open Super 300 and

India Open: Excited to face Prannoy Bhaiya, Rajawat has Paris-sized dreams

Priyanshu Rajawat beat Lakshya Sen in the first round of the India Open 2024. He will face HS Prannoy next with whom he has trained and calls him Bhaiya. He has eyes on a Paris Olympics berth as well

India Open 2024: Satwik-Chirag favourites, Prannoy real hero for Gopichand

The chief coach of the Indian national team Pullela Gopichand discussed at length all the possibilities of the Indian shuttlers in the Olympic year and at the Indian Open 2024

India Open 2024: Rajawat upsets Lakshya, dents his Paris Olympic chances

Lakshya Sen, ranked 17th in the world received a dent in his chances of direct qualification to the Paris Olympics after he was beaten by world number 30, compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat

India Open 2024: Lakshya Sen inspired by Prakash Padukone's words of wisdom

Lakshya Sen will be looking to get back into the top 16 of the Race to Paris rankings to qualify directly for the Paris Olympics 2024 with a great showing at India Open 2024