Badminton

Playing at Axiata Arena, the Indian duo lost to the South Korean pair of Ha Na Baek and So Hee Lee 10-21, 10-21. The Indians caused a stir last year by making the semifinals after being promoted from the reserves list, where they went down in two sets to China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu. In the semifinal played on Saturday, Gayatri and Treesa pair got off to a poor start and was trailing the Koreans after the opening exchanges.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Gayatri and Treesa defeated former world No. 1 Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota 21-14, 24-22 in 50 minutes in their round of 16 match on Thursday night. The world No 17 pair will now take on the world No. 23 women's doubles pair of Liu Xuan Xuan and Li Wen Mei of China in the quarter-finals.

Sindhu, ranked ninth in the world, lost to the world No.17 Chinese shuttler 17-21, 11-21 for her third first-round exit of the year. The former world champion also crashed out early from the Malaysia Open and India Open earlier this year. Playing against the drift, the Indian ace started with a measured approach and held a lead at 16-13.

According to information received here, Prannoy, who won 21-19, 22-20 in a 49-minute opening round clash, will meet third-seeded Indonesian, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, in the round of 16. Lakshya Sen, who made the All England final last year, started slowly but overcame the world No. 5 Chou Tien Chen, also from Chinese Taipei, by a 21-18, 21-19 scoreline.

With 155 matches and over 50 hours of badminton action to enjoy, the Championships will serve up to six days from March 16-20 with plenty of intriguing ties on offer. A total of 128 singles competitors and 96 teams are competing in the event. From the Indian perspective, so far only two Indians have won the All-England Open since it started.

Kaur participated in the recently concluded Spanish Level II Para-Badminton International tournament, which serves as one of the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Paralympics, held in Vitoria Gasteiz Spain between 20th-26th February 2023. She clinched a silver medal in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 category along with her mixed partner Chirag Baretha and also won a bronze medal in the women's singles SL3 category.

In the men's doubles SL3-SL4 category, Pramod and Sukant defeated the Indian pair of Tarun and Nitesh in a tightly contested 3 sets, 22-20, 12-21 and 21-9. Whereas, the ace shuttlers had to settle for silver in their singles category. Pramod went down fighting to England's Daniel Bethell in straight sets.

Hafiz, who lifted the All-England title in 2003, has signed a two-year contract with the Hyderabad-based academy and will be responsible for guiding the men's and women's singles players there. Sindhu is a product of the Sudhitra Badminton Academy, and will be undergoing training there for one or two days a week, reports said.

"The popularity of the game is on an all-time high with the national team creating history by winning the Thomas Cup last year and then clinching India's first-ever Badminton Asia Mixed Team medal earlier this month. National championship provides a fantastic platform for upcoming players to challenge the established stars and unearth fresh talent," said Badminton Association of India secretary Sanjay Mishra.

The first season which saw the top players from Karnataka with the teams mentored by the who-is-who of Indian badminton including PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Ashwini Ponappa, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, HS Prannoy, Chirag Shetty and Jwala Gutta, will now add an international flavour along with top ranked Indian players in the second edition.