Badminton

Verma led the match from the start and took the opening game in less than 20 minutes. Having beaten the eighth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the opening round, the world number 31 took his game a notch higher as he won the second game 21-9 to march into the last eight. Verma will now face world three Anders Antonsen for a place in the semi-finals.

Prannoy had been diagnosed with Covid-19 two months ago and said after the match that the pain in his rib cage was due to a muscle strain caused by coughing continuously. The shoulder pain came from a fall during a rally that gave Christie match point. However, he fought back from that position and went all the way to win the match.

Marin, 27, beat Chinese Taipei's top seed Tai Tzu Ying in straight games in an ominous display of form as she prepares to defend her Olympic title later in the year in Tokyo. Tai was limited to a single digit score in the first game and while she fought hard in the second, Marin ended up winning the match 21-9, 21-16.

Satwik-Chirag suffered a 19-21, 17-21 defeat against the Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in a match that lasted 34 minutes. The Indian duo started off well, but couldn't hold on to their lead as Ahsan and Setiawan won the tight first game 21-19. In the second game, the Indonesian duo, howeved, upped their game and eased to a 21-17 win to enter the quarter-finals.

In a match that lasted 36 minutes, Saina was dominant after the score was 4-4 in the first game. Her opponent saved a couple of game points but Saina finished the first game off in 17 minutes. She then raced to an 11-5 lead in the second game and, eventually, saw it through to the end.

After losing the first game 9-21, Kashyap made a comeback in the second game to clinch it 21-13. The third set saw Ho-Shue lead 14-8, but the Indian shuttler decided to retire and as a result, the Canadian progressed to the second round.

Simon Mugabi, the executive director of the Uganda Badminton Association said in an interview that the championship will be held under strict adherence to the Covid-19 prevention measures.

The first Thailand Open will be held from January 12 to 17 while the second is scheduled for January 19 to 24. The World Tour Finals then starts on January 27 and will end on January 31. While Srikanth competed in the Denmark Super 750 in October, it will be a first tournament since the coronavirus-induced break for the rest of the players in the squad.