BWF Financial News

Prannoy HS had to settle for a bronze medal as he registered a loss to Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semifinals of the ongoing Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships on Saturday. Prannoy went down to world number three and three-time Junior champion Vitidsarn by 21-18, 13-21, 14-21. Prannoy and Vitidsarn were neck-to-neck in the first game, but the Indian won the first game easily. Vitidsarn staged a comeback in the second game. Prannoy fought hard but lost the game by 13-21, setting up an exciting decider. In the decider, Prannoy was trailing right from the start.

Indian badminton stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen expressed happiness after securing singles titles at the Syed Modi India International badminton tournament in Lucknow on Sunday. Two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu ended her Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour drought of over two years by defeating China's Wu Luo Yu in the finals of the women's singles competition. Speaking to after her win, Sindhu said, «Really happy to have won the title».

Lakshya Sen's dominating win over Guatemala's Kevin Cordon in the badminton men's singles Group L match at the ongoing Paris Olympics has been 'deleted after the Guatemalan pulled out of the multi-sport event due to a left elbow injury.

PV Sindhu's wait for a much-needed title extended further as she faltered in the finishing line, going down in three games to world no. 7 Wang Zhi Yi of China in the summit clash on Sunday. Fifth seed Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, last won the Singapore Open and Commonwealth Games in 2022 and finished runner-up at the Madrid Spain Masters in 2023. The title here looked within her reach when world no. 15 Sindhu held a massive 11-3 lead in the decider after winning the opening game but the former world champion imploded after the final change of sides to go down 21-16 5-21 16-21 in a 79-minute women's singles final. The title would have been an icing on the cake but her impressive run to the final will still give her a lot of confidence as Sindhu looks to put the finishing touches ahead of the Paris Olympics. It was her first final on BWF world tour after more than a year.

Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty received a major boost ahead of the Paris Olympics as they secured the men's doubles title at the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a straight-game win over Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi of China here on Sunday. In the form of their lives, Satwik and Chirag, the world number three pair prevailed 21-15 21-15 over Liu and Chen, ranked 29th, for their ninth BWF world tour title. It was also the second title of the season for the Asian Games champions following their triumph at the French Open Super 750 in March. They had also finished runners-up at Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750. "Bangkok has always been special for us, we won our first Super Series title back in 2019 here and also the Thomas cup, so it has been a special place and so happy to be here," Chirag said after the win.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty secured the number one spot in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings on Tuesday, becoming the first duo from the country to reach the landmark. Following their gold medal win at the men's doubles competition at the recently concluded Asian Games in Hangzhou, 'Sat-Chi', as the duo is known to fans, made a jump of two spots to achieve the top spot. After Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, they are the fourth Indians to achieve the top ranking.

World Championship, ace Indian shuttler Prannoy H.S achieved a career-best world ranking as he reached No.6 in the latest chart released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday. After pocketing a bronze, his first-ever medal in World Championships, at Copenhagen recently, Prannoy climbed up three spots to achieve his new career-high rank with 72437 points in the men's singles category. Prannoy, who stunned the Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the quarterfinals in the World Championship, is the lone Indian featuring in the top 10 in the men's singles list. The 31-year-old reached two finals this year. He won his first BWF title this May at Malaysia Masters and finished runner-up at the Australian Open after an epic, intense three-game battle against China's Weng Hong Yang earlier this month. Among the other Indian shuttlers, Lakshya Sen dropped a place to the No.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stood one step away from another World Championships medal after reaching the quarterfinals with a three-game win over Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin here on Thursday. The world number two pair, which had claimed a maiden bronze in the last edition, bounced back from a mid-game slump to outwit Carnando and Marthin, ranked 10th, 21-15 19-21 21-9 in the round of 16 match that lasted a little over an hour. The Commonwealth Games champions, who won four titles this season, will meet either 11th seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen from Denmark or Malaysian seventh seeded combination of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi next. Earlier, the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who reached the semifinals of the All England Championships in the last two editions, couldn't sustain the attack and went down 14-21 9-21 in 42 minutes against top seeded Chinese duo of Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan. It was only the second meeting between Gayatri-Treesa and the Chinese pair with the Indians having lost to the world number one Chinese team at the German Open last year. Chen and Jia are three-time gold medallists at the World Championships, won three BWF titles, and finished runner-up twice this season. Satwik and Chirag showed great anticipation and execution to dish out an attacking game. Chirag was simply superb with his interceptions as he glided through the court and punished any weak returns from their rivals. The Indian pairs had a slow start but Chirag and Satwik soon stepped up, bringing more discipline in their approach. The Indians rained down their cross court returns with Chirag patrolling the front court.

Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy entered the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles competition in the BWF Japan Open but it was curtains for Aakarshi Kashyap, who ran into Akane Yamaguchi in her very first outing, here on Tuesday. The tournament is taking place at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

PV Sindhu will be aiming to regain her form while the red-hot men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will aim to carry forward their momentum after the Korea Open as the Indian contingent looks forward to the Japan Open, set to take place from July 25 to July 30. Satwiksairaj and Chirag, currently ranked at number three in Badminton World Federation Rankings (BWF), clinched the Korean Open title on Saturday after overcoming a challenge from top-ranked Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the final. As per Olympics.com, this was Satwik-Chirag's third BWF title win this year after the Swiss Open and Indonesia Open.

Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen fought hard before going down in three games against reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China in the men's singles semifinals of the US Open badminton tournament. A Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Lakshya, seeded third here, lost 17-21, 24-22, 17-21 against second-seed Feng in a gruelling last-four match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes in the BWF Super 300 event on Saturday night.

Indian Badminton player Lakshya Sen defeated China's Li Shi Feng in straight sets 21-18 and 22-20 to clinch the men's singles title at the Canada Open 2023 early Monday. 21-year-old Lakshya Sen triumphed over the reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng by winning the first set by 21-18 and the second set by 22-20. <a data-ga-onclick=«Inarticle articleshow link click#News#href» href=«https://twitter.com/BAI_Media/status/1678201264667082752?ref_src=» https: target="_blank" rel=«nofollow»>https://twitter.com/BAI_Media/status/1678201264667082752?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Lakshya Sen secured his second BWF World Tour after winning the Indian Open in 2022.