All posts tagged: Singles

Sindhu, Tanvi advance to Australian Open second round; Men’s Singles challenge ends

Sindhu, Tanvi advance to Australian Open second round; Men’s Singles challenge ends

Published by Webster

India enjoyed a productive day at the Australian Open badminton tournament in Sydney as PV Sindhu and Tanvi Sharma progressed to the second round of the women’s singles competition, setting up all-Indian contests in the next stage. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu began her campaign with a comfortable straight-games victory over Peru’s Inés Castillo. The former world champion, ranked 10th in the world, controlled the match throughout and secured a 21-13, 21-11 win to advance. Sindhu will next face fellow Indian Isharani Baruah in the pre-quarterfinals. Isharani, currently ranked 39th in the world, battled past China’s Han Qianxi in a three-game contest, winning 22-20, 10-21, 21-14. Teenager Tanvi Sharma also produced an impressive performance to reach the second round. The reigning BWF World Junior Championships silver medallist defeated world No. 11 Chiu Pin-Chian of Chinese Taipei 21-12, 22-20 in one of the standout results of the opening round. All-Indian clashes await in women’s singles Tanvi’s reward is a meeting with compatriot Malvika Bansod, who came from a game down to beat Thailand’s Tonrug Saeheng 15-21, …

Meet The Singles Ready To Stir Up Drama

Meet The Singles Ready To Stir Up Drama

Published by Webster

Perfect Match Season 4 Cast Details ( Photo Credit – Netflix ) Over the years, Netflix has been keeping viewers hooked with various dating reality shows. From Love Is Blind, which involves couples falling in love sight unseen, to Too Hot To Handle, which tests their intentions surrounding love, to The Ultimatum, which challenges struggling couples to make a commitment, the popular OTT streaming platform continues to delight fans with binge-worthy shows. A big entertainer amongst these is Perfect Match, which has enjoyed a good run for three seasons on Netflix and is set to return with season 4. The series is a strategic dating competition featuring alumni of other reality shows, including Love Is Blind, Too Hot to Handle, and The Circle. The cast members are expected to make romantic pairings and match with each other every day until the end of the competition. Those who do not find a match for the day are automatically eliminated from the show. The matched couples are made to compete in compatibility challenges, and the winners of …

“The rules need to change,” says Chirag Shetty on the Thomas Cup match format

“The rules need to change,” says Chirag Shetty on the Thomas Cup match format

Published by Webster

India’s shot at reclaiming their Thomas Cup title, quite possibly, ended before their semi-final clash against France even began in Horsens, Denmark on Saturday. The Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) match-order rules, which let France play their stronger suit of three singles matches effectively put India on the backfoot tactically. The injury and subsequent absence of Lakshya Sen didn’t help either as India went down 0-3 with their ace doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty not even needed to step on court. In a media interaction felicitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday, Chirag shied away from complaining about the rules but put out a well-reasoned argument for reform. “I think a lot of the badminton-playing nations would want to change the way the ties are because it sort of advantages France for all the matches they played,” said Chirag. “Because if they have to win a tie, it has to be in the first three matches.” He pointed to the final as further evidence: When Shi Yu Qi won the …

Unnati Hooda breaks into top-20 women’s singles rankings for first time

Unnati Hooda breaks into top-20 women’s singles rankings for first time

Published by Webster

India’s Unnati Hooda broke into the top-20 of the BWF women’s singles world rankings for the first time in her career on Tuesday. Hooda gained three places in the latest rankings released on 5 May, 2026 and is now placed at world No 19. The youngster gained 5,240 points from the recently concluded 2026 Uber Cup and now has 51,080 points to show for in 16 tournaments. Hooda had featured in two ties for India during their forgettable 2026 Uber Cup campaign, registering a win and a loss. She is only the third Indian women’s singles shuttler to climb into top-20 of BWF women’s singles badminton rankings, which was introduced in 2009, after Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Earlier records show Aparna Popat being ranked world No 17 in November 1999. Sindhu, who also featured in the 2026 Uber Cup, retained her at world No 12 with 55,671 points in the latest rankings. This is the first time in nearly four years that India have two shuttlers ranked inside top-20 of the world …

Chi Yu Jen vs Kidambi Srikanth in key third singles; Ayush Shetty vs Lin Chun-Yi crucial in Thomas Cup quarters

Chi Yu Jen vs Kidambi Srikanth in key third singles; Ayush Shetty vs Lin Chun-Yi crucial in Thomas Cup quarters

Published by Parlour News

2 min readMay 1, 2026 10:29 AM IST India have rotated their third singles players through this Thomas Cup, and it falls on Kidambi Srikanth to fend off Chi Yu-Jen in the decisive fifth rubber, unless the quarterfinals tie against Chinese Taipei is sealed before that. The duo have never met in the past on the Tour, but Srikanth’s rested fitness and recent solidity might have played a part in him preferred over HS Prannoy. As such, it will be up to India’s first singles Lakshya Sen to set the tone against a familiar opponent in Taiwan’s talismanic shuttler, 36 year old, World No 6, Chou Tien Chen. Sen has beaten him at big occasions, but a Thomas Cup could be a different set of pressures owing to pride, for both players. Taiwan’s doubles might be its strong suit, but Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty looked very close to their settled best in the humdinger against China – with 5 match points erased in the 24-26 last set. The big pivot of the tie is …

Three tough singles for India against Chinese Taipei in Thomas Cup quarterfinals

Three tough singles for India against Chinese Taipei in Thomas Cup quarterfinals

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Apr 30, 2026 03:56 PM IST Of all the possibilities in the world, Chinese Taipei had to walk into India’s path at the Thomas Cup. With strong singles and a favourable matchup to stop Ayush Shetty through No 8 Lin Chun-Yi, Taiwan can be a formidable foe for India as they seek to progress from the quarters upwards. However, injury worries have dogged the Taiwanese too. India had lost in both MS1 and MD1 four years ago to Taiwan, on thecway to the Thomas Cup title they won. As such, that group tie was a catalyst to the triumph back in 2022. It is a much sturdier Taiwan now, with depth in men’s singles. World No 4 Chou Tien Chen, Lin Chun-Yi and Chi Yu-Jen played in the 3-2 win against Denmark, but Tien Chen and the new Asian Championships gold medallist Lin Chun-Yi lost their singles ties. Chun-Yi went down to Magnus Johannesen 17-21, 21-16, 21-19, but had defeated Ayush easily at Ningbo BAC. With injury concerns for the Taiwanese, Ayush …

China’s No 1 singles player Shi Yuqi suffering from gastroenteritis: Chinese media at the Thomas Cup | Badminton News

China’s No 1 singles player Shi Yuqi suffering from gastroenteritis: Chinese media at the Thomas Cup | Badminton News

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 27, 2026 06:56 PM IST Chinese media reported that World No 1 Shi Yuqi had been struck by a case of acute gastroenteritis on Sunday night leading to his withdrawal from the Canada tie game against Victor Lai on Monday. The Twitter account Zee @zhiyiilyy posted that CCTV reporter Zhang Hongda, Yuqi slated to play first singles on Monday morning was in no position to take to the court against Canada. “Around 8 am Shi Yuqi arrived at the venue with the Chinese team. However unusually he didn’t warm up. According to the referee, Shi Yuqi came to him clutching his stomach saying he had to withdraw due to illness,” the post stated. Preliminary information, as per the report, indicated that Shi Yuqi suffered a “sudden attack of acute gastroenteritis last night.” “After a nights sleep, his condition didn’t improve significantly.qnd he was extremely weak and completely unable to compete. He had taken antibiotics and returned to the hotel to rest immediately after submitting his withdrawal request,” it further said. Hongda speculated …

Satwik-Chirag get India first point after Lakshya Sen loses first singles to Victor Lai 18-21, 21-19, 21-10; India 1-1 Canada

Satwik-Chirag get India first point after Lakshya Sen loses first singles to Victor Lai 18-21, 21-19, 21-10; India 1-1 Canada

Published by Webster

3 min readMumbaiApr 24, 2026 02:23 PM IST India started horrendously against Canada as Victory Lai put up the expected resistance to Lakshya Sen, and exacted revenge for the All England semifinals defeat. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty levelled the scores 1-1 after defeating Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Kevin Lee, 21-10, 21-11 in 29 minutes. A flashy, fancy backhand pirouette jump flick from Sen landed in the net underwhelmingly midway through first set, and was an early indicator that India might start with a stutter against tricky Canada. The north American team’s first two singles were bound to be dicey for Sen and Ayush Shetty who will face Brian Yang. But Sen had taken his first set lead to take the opener 21-18 using his net drops. However, when Lai pulled back from 14-18 to 18-19, it was apparent, that the compulsive retriever won’t be shrugged off easily. FILE: Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen in action. (Express Photo | Abhinav Saha) Sen once again got into the high work rate – low returns style, where he allows …

Badminton Asia Championships: Why Dinesh Khanna, India’s only singles champion, didn’t know what to do with the tea set he was presented with at Lucknow in 1965 | Badminton News

Badminton Asia Championships: Why Dinesh Khanna, India’s only singles champion, didn’t know what to do with the tea set he was presented with at Lucknow in 1965 | Badminton News

Published by Webster

Many years after Dinesh Khanna won India’s first and only singles title at the Badminton Asia Championships, the Amritsar ace faced a ‘storm in a teacup’. His wife was glaring at the white metal tea set Khanna was given after winning the Asian title, in which she could never actually serve tea. The rolling trophy that Khanna had won at Lucknow in 1965 ended up as a keepsake for the next Asian champion from Indonesia. The military junta commander from the next edition in Manila in 1969 had proposed that they would carve out a brand-new Asian rolling trophy. So, Khanna, who had won as an unseeded player, defeating Thai Sangob Rattanusorn 15-3, 15-11, was left with no trophy to flaunt on the shelves and a nonexistent gold medal, which is only mentioned on the Wikipedia page. “After some years, my wife said, ‘What are we to do with the tea set? We couldn’t use it to drink tea. I couldn’t display a tea set in cabinets like a trophy. We got rid of it …

Tanvi Sharma beats Anmol Kharb in a battle of teenagers on a good day for Indian women’s singles

Tanvi Sharma beats Anmol Kharb in a battle of teenagers on a good day for Indian women’s singles

Published by Webster

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Tanvi Sharma against Anmol Kharb in a round-of-16 battle of Indian teenagers at the Orleans Masters Super 300 on Thursday. Early in the second game, Anmol hit the best winner she managed all match – a crisp forehand crosscourt with a late flick of her wrists and a strong whipping motion. Tanvi was floored, lunging to her forehand flank but unable to get to the shuttle. But she got up, dusted herself off, and responded with a superb 1-2 punch next rally, hitting a strong forehand return smash from the backcourt and then playing the most delicate of drop shots to the frontcourt, to leave Anmol stranded. It was this quality of shotmaking that saw Tanvi, 16, overcome her 18-year-old compatriot 21-14, 21-17 in just 35 minutes. It marked a good day for Indian badminton in women’s singles as three shuttlers made it to the last eight, with Malvika Bansod and Isharani Baruah winning their matches, too. Malvika, on a comeback trail after a long injury break last year, …