Page 9 - Badminton

Shuttler Lakshya Sen bows out of US Open tournament after loss in semifinal

Sen, the Commonwealth Games champion lost to the world number seven and All-England Champion Li Shifeng by 17-21, 24-22, 17-21 in a hard-fought match that lasted an hour and 16 minutes

PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen win openers; Sai Praneeth loses in US Open 2023

Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu defeated her American opponent of Indian origin Disha Gupta while Lakshya Sen began his men's singles campaign with a convincing win over Finland's Kalle Koljonen at the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament here. In another men's singles match, S Sankar Subramanian, who had entered the main draw of the tournament after two tough qualifying matches, defeated his tricky Irish opponent Nhat Nguyen 21-11, 21-16 in the first round. However, B Sai Praneeth lost to 23-year-old world No. 7 Chinese player Li Shi Feng after a gruelling match that lasted three games. Sindhu defeated Diksha 21-15, 21-12 in just 27 minutes to enter the second round, while Lakshya beat his Finnish opponent 21-8, 21-16 in less than 30 minutes. Sankar though was tested by his Irish opponent Nhat Nguyen before winning 21-11, 21-16 in 44 minites, while Praneeth gave a tough fight to second seed Shi Feng before going down 16-21, 21-14, 21-19 in one hour and 14 minutes. In anoth

BWF Rankings: After Canada Open triumph, Sen jumps 7 places to 12th spot

Riding on his sensational Canada Open win, star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen jumped seven places to occupy the 12th spot in the latest BWF world rankings issued on Tuesday. The 21-year-old Sen had dished out a badminton masterpiece to beat All England champion Li Shi Feng 21-18 22-20 in a thrilling summit clash on Sunday in Calgary, Canada, to notch up his second BWF Super 500 title. With 54,901 points to his kitty, Sen is the second highest-ranked Indian after HS Prannoy, who lost one place to be at ninth spot with 67,677 points. Sen is the highest mover in the latest rankings. Feng also moved up three places at seventh. Denmark's Viktor Axelsen still leads the chart with 1,01,205 points, followed by Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (95,661) of Indonesia and Kodai Naraoka (62,063) of Japan.

Lakshya Sen's triumph testament to his tenacity, determination: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Lakshya Sen on reaching the final of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton tournament, calling his success a testament to his tenacity and determination. "Congratulations to the talented @lakshya_sen on his outstanding victory at the Canada Open 2023! His triumph is a testament to his tenacity and determination. It also fills our nation with immense pride. My best wishes to him for his upcoming endeavours," Modi tweeted. Commonwealth Games champion Sen stormed into the final of the tournament underway in Canada with a straight-game win over Japan's Kenta Nishimoto. Sen, who has slipped to world number 19 after struggling to find his form early in the season, saw off the world number 11 Japanese 21-17 21-14 to enter his second Super 500 final and first BWF summit clash in over a year.

US Open Badminton: Laksya Sen, PV Sindhu once again in focus for India

Newly-crowned Canada Open champion Lakshya Sen will hope to continue his winning momentum while beginning his campaign at the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament starting here on Tuesday. Sen turned around a health-related slump in form with a thrilling straight-game win over All England Champion Li Shi Feng in the finals of Canada Open on Sunday night. It was his first BWF title in 17 months and Sen will now train his eyes on US Open, where the third seeded Indian opens against Finland's Kalle Koljonen. Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth, who is going through a poor run of form, will face a tall task of taming second seed and world number 10 Feng, who reached the finals in Calgary. In women's singles, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, seeded third, will continue her quest for a first title of the season when she opens her campaign against a qualifier. The Indian had reached the finals of Madrid Spain Masters this year and is coming into the tournament after a good outing at Canad

Lakshya Sen seals Canada Open title beating All England champion Feng

Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen dished out a badminton masterpiece to notch up his second BWF Super 500 title with a straight-game win over Li Shi Feng of China in the final of the Canada Open. The 21-year-old from Almora, who had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at the 2022 India Open, mixed incredible speed and power to outshine reigning All England champion Feng 21-18 22-20 in a thrilling summit clash. "Coming into the Olympic qualification year, it was tough as things didn't go my way. So this win will be a big boost to my confidence," Sen told PTI after the win. "I had to dig deep in some matches, the conditions were different and getting used to it was important," the ace shuttler said. This was Sen's first title since claiming his maiden gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in August last year. He is also the second singles player from the country to win a title this year, following HS Prannoy's victory at Malaysia Masters in May. Sen gave ample display of his temperamen

Canada Open Badminton: Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu storm into the semi-finals

Commonwealth Games champions PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen notched up contrasting wins to advance to the semifinals of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton tournament here. Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, stamped her authority over Fang Jie to register her first victory in four meetings against her opponent with a dominating 21-13 21-7 margin in the women's singles quarterfinals late on Friday night. Later, Sen staved off a spirited fight from German qualifier Julien Carraggi 21-8 17-21 21-10 in the men's singles quarterfinal. Sindhu will now face world number one Japan's Yamaguchi and Sen is pitted against fourth seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto. The 28-year-old from Hyderabad has a favourable 14-10 head-to-head record against the top seeded Japanese, who had beaten the Indian in their last meeting at Singapore Open this year. Sen, on the other hand, has a 1-1 record against Nishimoto, having last played him at the 2022 Japan Open. Sindhu looked more alert as she zoomed to a 5-1 l

Canada Open 2023: Shuttlers PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen enter quarterfinals

Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen progressed to the quarterfinals of the women's and men's singles competitions respectively at the Canada Open Super 500 tournament here. While Sindhu advanced to the last eight after her opponent Natsuki Nidaira of Japan gave a her a walkover, Sen notched up a 21-15 21-11 win over Brazil's Ygor Coelho in 31 minutes. Sindhu will face 2022 Indonesia Masters champion Gao Fang Jie, who had played an important role in China's win at the Asia Mixed Team Championships this year. Sen, who is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, takes on Belgium's Julien Carraggi. However, Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala couldn't cross the pre-quarterfinal stage, going down 9-21 11-21 to Indonesian second seed and world number 7 Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. Sen has been slowly regaining his touch after going through a lean patch early in the season. On Thursday, Sen faced a tough battle against Coelho, who erased a 0-2 deficit wit

Canada Open: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen in 2nd round after straight-game wins

Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Canada Open after registering straight-game wins over their respective rivals in the BWF World Tour Super 500 event here. While Sindhu, seeded fourth, eased into the next round with an easy 21-16 21-9 win over Canada's Talia NG in her women's singles opening match on Wednesday night, Sen had to dig deep to stun second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-18 21-15 in the men's singles event. Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu will next play Japan's Natsuki Nidaira, while Sen will be up against Ygor Coelho of Brazil. But it was curtains for B Sai Praneeth as he lost 12-21 17-21 against Coelho. Ruthvika Shivani Gadde also exited in the first round, losing 12-21 3-21 against Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the women's singles. Sindhu, Sen and the men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will be seen in action later in the day. Krishna and Vishnuvardhan are up agai

BWF Rankings: PV Sindhu at 15, Chirag-Rankireddy at 3 in Men's Doubles

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu slipped three places to drop to the 15th spot in the latest women's singles BWF World rankings issued on Tuesday. Sindhu, who dropped out of the elite top 10 in April this year, now has 51,070 points from 13 tournaments. The 27-year-old, who will be in action at the Canada Open Super 500 this week, has looked off colour this season after returning from a five-month long injury layoff following a stress fracture on her ankle en route her Commonwealth Games gold in August last year. The highlight this season has been a final finish at the Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 and a semifinal at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 for Sindhu, who made early exits from a series of events at the start of the year. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are the top-ranked Indian men's doubles players at world number 3. HS Prannoy, who occupies the 8th spot, is the best ranked Indian in the men's singles while Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth are placed 19th and

Satwik-Chirag rise to career-best World no 3 in BWF doubles rankings

India's star men's doubles pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy achieved their new career-high ranking on Tuesday after their historic BWF Super 1000 title at the Indonesia Open.

Why Satwik-Chirag's Indonesian Open win is the biggest in Indian Badminton

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the world number one and the reigning world champions on their way to the Indonesian Open Badminton title

Satwiksairaj, Chirag defeat world champions to clinch Indonesia Open 2023

Indian star shuttler duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched the Indonesia Open 2023 title after securing their first victory against world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik

Indonesia Open: Lakshya, Rajawat and Srikanth enter second round in style

Commonwealth Games champion Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen and compatriot Kidambi Srikanth eased into the second round of the men's singles at the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event with a straight-game wins over their respective rivals here on Wednesday. While Lakshya, a world championship bronze medallist and ranked 20th in the world, took just 32 minutes to quell the challenge of world no.11 over Zii Jia Lee of Malaysia 21-17 21-13, Srikanth beat Guang Zu Lu of China 21-13 21-19. The win helped Srikanth, ranked 22nd, to continue his dominance over world no.13 Lu, extending his head-to-head record against the Chinese to 5-0. But it will be curtains for either Lakshya or Srikanth in the next round as they will take on each other. Another Indian Priyanshu Rajawat got a walkover from Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand to seal his place in the next round. Rajawat, however, has a tough second round tie as he set to face the winner of the match between Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittnghus

Indonesia Open: Sindhu, Prannoy make prequarters; Treesa-Gayatri bow out

Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu roared back to form ousting home favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight games in the opening round of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event, here on Tuesday. The double Olympic medallist and former world champion, who made first round exits from the last two events, took 38 minutes to prevail over her recent nemesis from Indonesia 21-19 21-15 and seal a pre-quarterfinal berth. This was also Sindhu's first win against Tunjung in her last three games as she had lost to the Indonesian in the Madrid Masters final and Malaysian Masters semifinal earlier this year. Sindhu, who has slipped to world No 13 in rankings, overcame a stiff challenge in the first game when the local challenger led 9-7 with a crosscourt drop. Using her height to full advantage, Sindhu snatched the lead 11-10 following three consecutive errors by Tunjung and sealed the first game. After an edgy start, Sindhu was in full flow in the second game, forcing Tunjung to co

Malaysian Masters champ Prannoy lead India's charge at Indonesia Super 1000

In-form HS Prannoy will be in the spotlight as India's top shuttlers gear up for some tough opening round matches at the Indonesia Open, a BWF Super 1000 tournament, beginning here on Tuesday. Prannoy, who claimed the Malaysia Masters Super 300 title last month, looks promising to go deep into the tournament, where the creme-de-la-creme of world badminton is set to compete this week. The world number 8 Indian will be up against Kenta Nishimoto of Japan and a first round win is likely to pit him against China's Shi Yuqi in the second round. Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and 2021 world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth will also look for impressive starts to their campaign, though they haven't been in the best of form this season. Sindhu made first round exits from the last two events, while Srikanth had a couple of quarterfinal finishes at Malaysia and Spain and they will have their task cut out against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and China's Lu Guang Zu

India's campaign ends in Singapore Open badminton after Kidambi's defeat

India's campaign ended at the Singapore Masters badminton tournament after Kidambi Srikanth lost in straight games to Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei in the men's singles second round here on Thursday. Srikanth lost 15-21 19-21 in just 37 minutes against Lee in their first meeting on the professional circuit. The 2021 World Championships silver medallist Srikanth beat Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-15 21-19 in the opening round. Chia Hao Lee, on the other hand, beat Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in his opening match after being promoted to the main draw from the reserve. Earlier, upcoming Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat's dream run ended with a second round loss to third seed Kodai Naraoka. The unseeded Rajawat, who had stunned world No. 15 Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the opening round, lost to Naraoka 17-21 16-21 in straight games. Having ousted HS Prannoy in the first round, the world No. 4 Naraoka of Japan maintained his lead as the world No. 37 Indian played catch-up througho

Thailand Open 2023: Lakshya Sen goes down against world No. 5 Vitidsarn

India's challenge at the Thailand Open 2023 badminton tournament came to an end on Saturday after Lakshya Sen went down fighting in the men's singles event, here

Team, player auction dates for Grand Prix Badminton League announced

The auction for the second season of Grand Prix Badminton League (GPBL) will be held on June 10 and will feature bids for 10 teams including from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. The league has unveiled its team and player auction plans. The event will see players from across 25 countries participating in it. Speaking about the upcoming season, Prashanth Reddy, league commissioner said: "With the objective of expanding the league's reach, GPBL Season 2 will feature a total of 10 teams as against eight in the first season. With the overwhelming response from players and the addition of two new teams, we are confident of yet another successful season." The auction will feature bids for the Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kerala, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Lucknow and Odisha teams. "The league aims to provide a platform for both domestic and international talent to not only showcase their skills but give them an opportunity to earn substantial money to fund their training and

Sindhu, Prannoy advance to semifinals of Malaysia Masters, Srikanth out

Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy advanced to the women's and men's singles semifinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament with hard-fought wins over their respective opponents here on Friday. While double Olympic medallist Sindhu, seeded sixth in the tournament, beat lower ranked Yi Man Zhang of China 21-16, 13-21, 22-20, Prannoy earned a 25-23, 18-21, 21-13 win over Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the quarterfinals. Sindhu faces seventh seed and world number nine Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in the semifinals on Saturday. Tunjung upset second seed Yi Zhi Wang of China in the quarterfinals 21-18, 22-20. Tunjung has been in fine form recently and Sindhu had lost to her in the Madrid Spain Masters final in straight games in April. The Indian will, however, go into the semifinals with a 7-1 head-to-head advantage over Tunjung. World number nine Prannoy faces qualifier Christian Adinata, ranked 57, of Indonesia, who beat Kidambi Srikanth 16-21, 21-16, 21-11