Trupti reaches Welsh international quarters

Qualifier Trupti Murgunde upset sixth seed Akvile Stapusaityte of Lithuania 21-19, 21-12 to move into the quarterfinals of the Welsh International badminton tournament in Cardiff, Wales on Friday.

The former national champion, who is looking to make a comeback after an injury induced break, had strolled through the qualifying rounds.

But the world number 297 will now face a stiff challenge from Switzerland’s Nicole Schaller for a berth in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, it was an forgettable outing for all other Indian contenders with Prakash Jolly, Velavan Vasudevan and Jacqueline Rose Kunnath falling in the first round.

Shrikant, Guru in Macau Open semifinals

Nationals semifinalist K Shrikant continued his dream run in the Macau Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a come from behind victory over Nan Wei of Hong Kong to book a semifinal berth.
The Gopichand Badminton Academy trainee fought back gamely despite going down in the first game to win the quarterfinal encounter 16-21, 21-19, 21-19 in just over an hour to set up a last four clash against Chinese Huan Gao.
Also advancing to the last four stage was 12th seed and Shrikanth's academy mate RMV Guru Sai Dutt who hammered Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-14. He will now face China's Yuekun Chen for a spot in the final.
However, it was curtains for India in the women's doubles and mixed doubles competition with Ashwini Ponnappa and K Tarun going down 21-9, 21-13 against the top seeded Indonesian combination of Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.
In the women's doubles last eight match, Ashwini and her new partner Pradnya Gadre failed to show the required consistency and lost 21-16, 12-21, 21-15 against Indonesia's Komala Dewi and Jenna Gozali.

India retains Super Series hosting rights

Despite a not-so-impressive organisation of the Super Series in the first two years, India has managed to retain the hosting rights of the India Open for another four years starting from 2014.

The BWF committee had passed quite a few strictures against the teething problems faced by the organisers during the first two editions and there was speculation that India may not be among the hosts from the next cycle.

But when BWF President Dr Kang Young Joong announced the list of 12 hosts after the Council meeting in Bangkok on Friday, the China Masters was scrapped to ensure that all countries host only one Super Series.

The China Masters Super Series has now been replaced by the Australian Super Series with Korea Super Series Premier being downgraded to a Super Series.

In other decisions, the world body decided to implement the line call technology from the 2014 season for the Super Series events with the players being allowed to challenge a certain number of decisions, rules for which would be subsequently formed.

The Council also decided to modify the draw process for the doubles event for the forthcoming Olympic Games in the wake of the match-fixing controversy that engulfed the London Games.

According to the new format, the second placed teams in each group would now be drawn by lots after the end of the preliminary stage to avoid any kind of pre-determined placing by teams in the knock out rounds.

Indians impress in Macau Open pre-quarters

Former junior national champion RMV Guru Sai Dutt lead the charge as the Indian contingent registered an 100 per cent win record in the pre-quarterfinals of the Macau Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Macau on Thursday.

Guru upset seventh seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 21-13, 21-18 to set up a quarterfinal encounter against the experienced Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong in the men’s singles event.

His academy mate in the Gopichand Badminton Academy, K Shrikant also continued his bull run in the tournament with a 21-17, 15-21, 21-12 victory over Malaysia’s Choong Hann Wong to reach his maiden quarterfinal of a GP gold event. He will now face Nan Wei of Hong Kong.

In the doubles events, world championship bronze medallist Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the quarterfinals of both the women’s and mixed doubles events.

In the women’s doubles, Ashwini and Pradnya Gadre defeated the Thai combination of Rodjana Chuthabunditkul and Chanida Julrattanamanee 25-23, 21-19 to set up a last eight encounter with Indonesia’s Komala Dewi and Jenna Gozali.

Result:

Men singles: 12-RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA) 21-13, 21-18; K Shrikanth bt Choong Hann Wong (MAS) 21-17, 15-21, 21-12

Women doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/Pradnya Gadre bt Rodjana Chuthabunditkul/Chanida Julrattanamanee (THA) 25-23, 21-19

Mixed doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/K Tarun bt Chi-Lin Wang/Hsiao Ma Pai (TPE) 21-17, 22-20

Srikanth, Guru in Macau Open pre-quarters

K Srikanth and RMV Guru Sai Dutt booked their berths in the pre-quarterfinals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Macau with facile wins, while even the doubles combinations gave a good account of themselves on Wednesday.

Srikanth, who had upset ninth seed Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia in the first round, hammered Min Ki Kim of Korea 21-13, 21-11, while Guru thrashed Po Wei Cheng of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 21-14.

In the women’s doubles section, the new combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre upset second seed Lok Yan Poon and Ying Suet Tse 21-19, 21-19 to advance to the second round.

Results:

Men’s singles: K Srikanth bt Min Ki Kim (KOR) 21-13, 21-11; RMV Guru Sai Dutt bt Po Wei Cheng (TPE) 21-10, 21-14

Men’s doubles: Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar lost to 7-Gideon Fernaldi/Agripinna Putra (INA) 21-8, 21-16; K Tarun/Arun Vishnu bt Evgenij Dremin/Sergey Lunev 12-21, 21-18, 21-17

Women’s singles: Tanvi Lad lost to 5-Hsiao Ma Pai (TPE) 21-11, 21-17; Arundhati  Pantawane lost to 8-Adrianti Firdasari 21-19, 21-15

Women’s doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/Pradnya Gadre bt 2- Lok Yan Poon/Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 21-19, 21-19; N Sikki Reddy/Aparna Balan lost to 6-Vivian Hoo/Khe Wei Woon (MAS) 21-11, 21-18

Mixed Doubles: K Tarun/Ashwini Ponnappa bt Thitipong Lapoe/Peeraya Munkitamorn (THA) 21-18, 21-17; Aparna Balan/Arun Vishnu lost to Min Chun Liao/Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE) 16-21, 23-21, 22-20; Akshay Dewalkar/Pradnya Gadre lost to Joe Wu (NZ)/Ya Lan Chang (TPE) 3-4 retd; Pranav Chopra/N Sikki Reddy lost to Yen Jui Lin/Chi Ya Cheng (TPE) 21-19, 11-21, 21-19

Anand Pawar wins Scottish International title

Mumbai boy Anand Pawar recovered impressively from a first game reversal to beat Japan's Kazumasa Sakai to lift the men's singles title in the Scottish International badminton tournament in Glasgow on Sunday.
The world number 55, who had not dropped a game in the competition so far, did not start well against the 10th seed Japan and it looked like Pawar was out of sorts till midway through the second game.
But once the seventh seed found his rhythm there was no stopping the eventual champion. He raced through the second game. Even in the third set, both players were going neck-and-neck till 15-15 before raced ahead to clinch the match and the title in just under an hour.
"I was not playing my best. but I still managed to fight it out and mostly importantly win the match," Pawar said on his facebook feed after winning the title.
Pawar had won the French International title back in April, ending a two year drought of international titles.

Vrushali bags double crown, Kaushal win's u-19 boys title in Gautam Thakkar memorial

It was a ‘Super’ Sunday for Andhra Pradesh’s upcoming shuttler G Vrushali. The 14-year-old Vrushali showed great courage as she overcame pain from a sore left foot to defeat her higher ranked opponents to complete a grand double, winning both the girl’s under-17 and under-19 singles crowns, in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament. Incidentally these were her maiden major victories in the two age categories.
Vrushali, a class 10 student from the DAV Public School, Hyderabad, first came back from a game down to beat third seed Malvika J.K of Kerala in the under-17 final to win 11-21, 21-15, 21-19 in 50 minutes.
In the under-19 final, the third-seeded Vrushali scored a stunning straight games win over top seed Riya Pillai of Maharashtra. The triumph in the under-17 final proved to be the perfect boost for the young Vrushali, who waltzed to a fluent 21-7, 21-13 victory in just 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s third seed Kaushal Dharmamer exhibited remarkable fighting qualities to record a come from behind win against fourth seed Talar Laa of Air India in the boy’s under-17 singles final. Kaushal after losing the opening game rather tamely, put up a much improved performance and went on to comfortably win the next two games to complete a deserving 10-21, 21-8, 21-15 victory.
Top seed Rohit Yadav (AAI) claimed the boy’s under-19 title defeating seventh seed Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-16, 21-16 in 45 minutes.

Results (final):

Girls’ under-17 singles: Vrushali G. (AP) beat Malvika J.K. (Ker) 11-21, 21-15, 21-19.
Girls’ under-19 singles: Vrushali G (AP) beat Riya Pillai (Mah) 21-7, 21-13
Boys’ under-17 singles: Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) beat Talar Laa (AI) 10-21, 21-8, 21-15.
Boys’ under-19 singles: Rohit Yadav (AAI) beat Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-16, 21-16.

Vrushali in line for grand double in Gautam Thakkar memorial tournament

G Vrushali of Andhra Pradesh was in her elements and stayed in line for a grand double. The shuttler reached the final of both the girl’s singles under-17 and under-19 events in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament, played at the Bombay Gymkhana, on Saturday.
Seeded third in the under-19 category, Vrushali got the better of Maharashtra fourth seed Shruti Mundada in straight games 21-15, 21-16.
Earlier in the afternoon, Vrushali produced a remarkable performance to stun top seed Sudha Kalyani also from Andhra Pradesh 21-17, 21-9.
In the boy’s competition, Talar Laa of Air India seeded fourth recorded a shock win in three games against top seed Arshalan Naqvi of Uttar Pradesh in the under-17 semi-final.
Third seed Kaushal Dharmamer kept Maharashtra’s hopes alive, when he stunned second seed Daniel Farid S. of Karnataka 21-18, 21-15 in the second semi-final.
Results:
Girls’ under-17 singles (semi-finals):
Vrushali G. (AP) beat Sudha Kalyani (AP) 21-17, 21-19; Malvika J.K. (Ker) beat Anoushka Parikh (Guj) 21-16, 21-18.

Boys’ under-17 singles (semi-finals): Talar Laa (AI) beat Arshalan Naqvi (UP) 21-14, 10-21, 21-19; Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) beat Daniel Farid S. (Ktk) 21-18, 21-15.
Girls’ under-19 singles (semi-finals): Vrushali G (AP) beat Shruti Mundada (Mah) 21-15, 21-16.

(Courtesy -- Gordon D'Costa)

Anand Pawar in Scottish International final

Mumbai boy Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles final of the Scottish International Badminton tournament in Glasgow on Saturday without dropping a game.

The seventh seed Indian hammered Denmark’s Rune Ulsing 21-13, 21-9 in the semifinal to set up a summit clash with 10^th seed Kazumasa Sakai of Japan.

Arshalan in two semi-finals

Arshalan Naqvi of Uttar Pradesh made the semi-finals of both, the boy’s under-17 and under-16 singles categories in the Rs 10 lakhs prize-money 2nd Gautam Thakkar Memorial All India Junior Masters Prize Money Badminton Tournament, played at the Bombay Gymkhana, on Friday.

In the under-17 quarter-finals, Arshalan, the top seed recovered from the loss of the first game to hand Sipani Sahil Naqvi a 23-25, 21-17, 21-12 defeat.

Later, Arshalan seeded seventh in the under-19 event overcame sixth seed Talar Laa of Air India in straight games at 21-16, 22-20.

In the under-17 quarters, Naqvi found the going tough initially as Sahil counter-attacked aggressively and engaged the number one seed in long rallies. But, Naqvi seemed unfazed even after dropping the first game. Instead he raised the level of his game and started to call the shots before closing out the match to book his place in the semi-finals.

Talar Laa of Air India quelled the challenge from Andhra Pradesh’s Chaityana K.P. 21-17, 21-19 in the other boys’ under-17 quarter-final match.

Maharashtra’s third seed Kaushal Dharmamer and second seed Daniel Farid S. of Karnataka also progressed to the semi-finals. Dharmamer romped to a straight games 21-18, 21-9 win over Harshit Agarwal of Karnataka, while Farid traded the opening two games with Sumit Sharma of Punjab, before the latter after trailing 16-21, 21-9, 13-6 conceded the match due to an ankle injury.

Results (quarterfinals)

Boys’ under-17 singles: Talar Laa (AI) bt Chaitanya K.P. 21-17, 21-19; Kaushal Dharmamer (Mah) bt Harshit Agarwal (Ktk) 21-18, 21-9; Arshalan Naqvi (UP) bt Sipani Sahil (Ktk) 23-25, 21-17, 21-12, Daniel Farid S. (Ktk) bt Sumit Sharma (Pjb) 16-21, 21-18, 13-6 (retired).

Boys’ under-19 singles: Rohit Yadav (AP) bt Harsheel Dani (AI) 21-16, 21-18; Shreyansh Jaiswal (CG) bt Aditya Joshi 15-21, 21-9, 21-16; Shlok Ramchandran (Mah) bt Hemangendra Babu T. (AP) 22-20, 21-18, Arshalan Naqvi (UP) bt Talar Laa (AI) 21-16, 22-20.

Girls’ under-17 singles: Vrushali G. (AP) bt Vibhuti Agarwal (Mah) 21-13, 21-10; Anoushka Parikh (Guj) bt Anokhi Haria 21-12, 21-16,Sudha Kalyani (AP) bt Pooja M. (AP) 21-15, 23-21, Malvika J.K. (Ker) bt Revati Devasthale (Mah) 24-22, 21-11.

Courtesy Gordon D'Costa 

Anand Pawar lone Indian survivor after round 1 in Scottish Open

Seventh seed Anand Pawar was the lone Indian survivor after the opening round of the Scottish International Badminton tournament being played at Glasgow on Thursday.

The world number 55 thrashed Sam Dobson of England 21-14, 21-7 in the first round to set up a second round clash against Bulgaria’s Blagovest Kisyov.

However, India’s challenge in the women’s singles withered away in the first round itself with national champion Sayali Gokhale, former national champion Trupti Murgunde and Jacqueline Rose Kunnath going down rather sheepishly.

Results (first round):

Men’s singles

7-Anand Pawar bt Sam Dobson (ENG) 21-14, 21-7

Prakash Jolly lost to Rasmus Fladberg (DEN) 21-14, 21-13

Women’s singles

Jacqueline Rose Kunnath lost to 11-Beatriz Corrales (ESP) 21-7, 7-2 retd

Sayali Gokhale lost to Sarah Walker (ENG) 24-22, 7-21, 21-17

Trupti Murgunde lost to 2-Carolina Marin (ESP) 21-17, 21-8

Indian challenge ends in Hong Kong Open

After the opening day high, India's challenge in the Hong Kong Open Super Series came to an abrupt end on Thursday with all the singles and doubles players making a quite exit.
While Ajay Jayaram had a difficult task of beating world number one Lee Chong Wei of China, P Kashyap had to concede his second round encounter against Tommy Sugiarto due to a suspected abdomen injury.
But it was the loss of third seed Saina Nehwal in straight games that came as a surprise.
Saina, who is nursing a knee injury, was up against another China’s Lin Wang, who is making a comeback after a serious knee injury.
Lin dominated the net exchanges in the first game and once she got the measure of Saina gave the Indian no chance of a comeback to win 21-19, 21-15.
In the men’s singles, Ajay ran close to an opponent who had shattered his Olympic qualification dream in April when the Indian lost to the world number one at the same stage. He once again showed grit and gumption in pushing Chong Wei till the end. But the experience of the London Olympic silver medallist finally made the difference in the 21-18, 21-19 victory.
Speaking to baddyindia.blogspot.com from Hong Kong, Ajay said he was satisfied with the way he played but unhappy that he could not convert his chances.
"A missed tap and some good smashes in the end cost me the first game," said Ajay, who also lost the second game after recovering from 11-4 to draw level at 19-19.
"I was much more patient and controlled the net well to claw back to 19-19. But then I made a bad decision of flicking my serve which he finished off with a big smash," he added.

Results:

Men’s singles
Ajay Jayaram lost to 1-Lee Chong Wei (MAS) 21-18, 21-19
P Kashyap lost to Tommy Sugiarto (INA) 11-6 (retd)
Men’s doubles
Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar lost to 2-Yun Cai/Haifeng Fu 23-21, 19-21, 21-6
Women’s singles
3-Saina Nehwal lost to Lin Wang (CHN) 21-19, 21-15
Women’s doubles
Pradnya Gadre/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Duanganong Aroonkesorn/Kunchala Vorvichitchaikul 21-17, 21-18
Mixed Doubles
Pranav Chopra/N Sikki Reddy lost to 1-Chen Xu/Jin Ma 21-16, 21-10

Hong Kong Open: Ajay, Kashyap register upset victories in round one

The opening round of the Hong Kong Super Series turned out to be fruitful day for the Indian contingent with their men’s singles stars Ajay Jayaram and P Kashyap recording upset victories to move into the second round.
Ajay got the better of last week’s China Super Series Premier finalist Zhengming Wang 22-20, 23-21 while Kashyap saved a match point before toppling seven seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 24-22, 20-22, 22-20.
The world number 27 Ajay, wasted four game points in the first game and then saved two in the second before winning the 36 minute encounter against an opponent ranked 10 places above him.
"At game point, he started catching me with his smashes on my body and it was difficult to get good length with the drift. Also I got nervous when I lost a couple of points," he told baddyindia.blogspot.com from Hong Kong.
Wang had beaten P Kashyap, who had beaten world number three Chen Long earlier this year, in the quarterfinals of the China Open Super Series premier last week.
Later, Kashyap showed how close the race for India’s top spot is when he kept his nerves to win the first round battle in just over an hour.
The diminutive Indian dominated the back court encounters and it were smashes that saw him through against the Dane. Even Kashyap wasted four game points in the first game and saved two in the second before the match went in to a decider. He will now face Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the second round.
In the day’s other matches, world number three Saina Nehwal hammered Indonesia’s Aprilla Yuswandari 22-20, 21-8 in her first match after returning from an injury break.
The Denmark Super Series Premier champion had opted out of the China Open to nurse her injured knee and was a bit rusty in the opening game. But once she got in the groove, she ensured that her Indonesian opponent had no chance of a fight back.
Saina will now face former world champion Lin Wang, who is on her comeback trail after injury.

Results:

Men’s singles:
Ajay Jayaram bt Zhengming Wang (CHN) 22-20, 23-21
P Kashyap vs 7-Jan O Jorgensen (DEN) 24-22, 20-22, 22-20
Men’s doubles:
K Tarun/Arun Vishnu lost to Chris Adcock/Andrew Ellis (ENG) 21-18, 21-14
Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy lost to Alvent Yulianto Chandra/Markis Kido (INA) 11-21, 21-11, 21-15
Pranav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar bt Hafiz Faisal/Putra Eka Rhoma (INA) 21-16, 21-23, 21-17
Women’s singles:
3-Saina Nehwal bt Aprilla Yuswandari (INA) 22-20, 21-8
P V Sindhu lost to Belaetrix Manuputi (INA) 21-12, 18-21, 21-15
Women’s Doubles
Aparna Balan/Sikki Reddy lost to 2-Xiaoli Wang/Yang (F) Yu (INA) 21-3, 21-7
Pradnya Gadre/Ashwini Ponnappa bt Audrey Fontaine/Emilie Lefel (FRA) 21-10, 21-16
Mixed Doubles
K Tarun/Ashwini Ponnappa lost to 1-Chen Xu/Jin Ma 21-15, 21-16
Pranav Chopra/Sikki Reddy bt Phillip Chew/Jamie Subandhi (USA) 21-19, 21-15
Akshay Dewalkar/Pradnya Gadre lost to Fran Kurniawan/Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA) 21-18, 23-21
Arun Visnhu/Aparna Balan lost to Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili 21-13, 21-11

Ruthvika bags triple crown; Dani, Joshi share boys singles spoils in junior nationals

Harsheel Dani, Aditya Joshi and Ruthvika Shivani continued to show that they are the future of Indian badminton by bagging the singles titles in both the u-17 and u-19 category of the Junior National Badminton tournament in Imphal.
Gopichand Academy trainee Ruthvika Shivani claimed a triple crown winning the under-19 singles and doubles title and the under-17 singles title for a cent per cent win record in the tournament.
In the boy’s section, Dani and Joshi, who were also doubles partners till they decided to concentrate only on singles last year, faced each other in both the finals and shared the spoils with the latter winning the under-19 crown and Joshi claiming the under-17 title.
Both the matches went on for over an hour with no player willing to give an inch.

Results: U-17 

Boys Singles: Aditya Joshi bt Harsheel Dani 14-21, 21-5, 28-26
Boys doubles: Sanmay Shukla/V Gangadhar Rao bt DBS Chandrakumar/M Kanishq 21-16, 21-13
Girls singles: Ruthvika Shivani bt Reshma Karthik 21-13, 21-23, 21-16
Girls doubles: KP Shruti/Farha Mather bt Reshma Karthik/Sanjana Santosh 21-19, 21-19

U-19

Boys singles: Harsheel Dani bt Aditya Joshi 21-19, 18-21, 21-17
Boys doubles: G Gopi Raju/T Hemanagendra Babu bt Shyam Prasad/Shlok Ramchandran 21-16, 21-16
Girls singles: Ruthvika Shivani bt Rituparna Das 21-17, 21-5
Girls doubles: Ruthvika Shivani/Poorvisha S Ram bt J Meghana/K Maneesha 21-10, 21-12
Mixed doubles: T Hemanagendrababu/J Meghana bt G Gopi Raju/Poorvisha S Ram 21-18, 23-21

Kashyap out of China Open

India's challenge in the China Open Super Series Premier in Shanghai came to an end with P Kashyap succumbing to the guile of Zhengming Wang of China 21-17, 21-7 in the quarterfinals.
The London Olympics quarterfinalist couldn't be faulted for the effort he put in during the 34 minute encounter. But Wang was too good for the Indian.
Kashyap began on a promising note, matching his opponent stroke for stroke and even using his deceptive flicks to score a few points.
But slowly but surely Wang began to take control of the match with his smash-tap routine fetching him points in plenty at the business end of the first game.
The second game was mostly a one way affair with Kashyap showing sparks of brilliance during a few points but never enough to challenge the might of the Chinese opponent.

China Open: Kashyap reaches quarters

London Olympic quarterfinalist P Kashyap saved a match point before beating seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam 12-21, 22-20, 21-14 to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open Super Series Premier in Shanghai on Thursday.
The Gopichand Badminton Academy trainee faced a match point in the second game at 19-20. But he not only saved the match point but went on to take the next two points to take the match in the decider, which he won relatively easily to set up a last eight clash against local hope Zhengming Wang.
However, it was curtains for India in all other events with mixed doubles combination of Pranav Chopra and Sikki Reddy and men's doubles pairing of Arun Vishnu and K Tarun falling in the second round.

China Open: Only Kashyap survives first day mayhem

The opening day of the China Open Super Series Premier turned out to be a forgettable day for the Indian contingent with only P Kashyap surviving the first round.

The London Olympics quarterfinalist got the better of Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen 21-15, 21-15 to set up a second round clash against seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, whom he had defeated in the group stages of the Olympic Games.

While Kashyap advanced, there was heartbreak for all the other singles players with P V Sindhu going down against Eriko Hirose of Japan 22-20, 14-21, 21-19 in women’s singles, Ajay Jayaram suffering a 21-18, 16-21, 21-14 reversal against Daren Liew of Malaysia and RMV Guru Sai Dutt beaten 11-21, 21-13, 21-11 by Takuma Ueda of Japan.

The doubles specialists also could not do much and were shown the door in the first round.

Air India, Andhra Pradesh bag team titles in junior nationals

Air India and Andhra Pradesh bagged the boy's and girl's team championships respectively in the Junior Inter-State team championship in Imphal, Manipur.
While Air India got the better of Chattisgarh 2-1 in the boy's final, the Andhra girls piped West Bengal by the same margin.

Sai Praneeth, Pantawane win singles titles in Bahrain International

India's B Sai Praneeth and Arundhati Pantawane bagged the men's and women's singles titles in the Bahrain International challenge badminton tournament with hard fought victories in the summit clash.
In the men's final, third seed Sai Praneeth rallied from a game down to get the better of top seed Niluka Karnaratne of Sri Lanka 14-21, 21-14, 21-17 while Nagpur girl Arundhati Pantawane fought back from a game down and a slump in the decider to get the better of Tanvi Lad 20-22, 21-12, 21-19 to lift the women's singles title.
Pantawane, a trainee of the Gopichand Academy, was staring defeat when she trailed 13-17 in the decider before the world number 51 fought back with a better tactical approach to win her maiden international title.
In the men's doubles, top seed Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas of Indiagot the better of K Nandagopal and Jishnu Sanyal 21-18, 19-21, 21-18 to lift the title. 

Injured Saina pulls out of China Open

Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the China Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament to be played in Shanghai from November 13-18 citing a knee injury.

The London Olympic bronze medallist had played with a strapped knee during the Denmark Super Series Premier, which she won, and the French Super Series in which she lost in the final.

The world number 3 has also submitted the medical certificate, which is a must for all top-10 players if they wish to withdraw from any Premier event.

According to the rules formulated by the Badminton World Federation, it is mandatory for all top-10 players to participate in Premier events – barring injuries -- and be part of the promotional activities two days prior to the tournament.

If Saina decides to stay away from the promotional activities then she will have to shell out $5000 as a fine. She had paid a similar fine in 2011 when she skipped the promotional events before the Super Series Finals.

Indian challenge ends in world juniors

India's challenge in the World Junior badminton championship in Chiba, Japan came to an end when the three boy's singles players were shown the door in the fourth round on Thursday.
Mumbai boy Harsheel Dani managed to stretch 5/8 seed Teck Zhi Soo of Malaysia for almost an hour but lost 21-13, 19-21, 21-15, while Rohit Yadav was no match to Chinese Xue Song, going down 21-10, 21-12 in 40 minutes.
In the other fourth round match, Pratul Joshi fought hard before surrendering 20-22, 21-16, 21-16 against Kwang Hee Heo of Korea.