Pune, Feb 3 (IANS) Indian shuttler Arati Patil, has confirmed her berth at the upcoming BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2024, to be held in Pattaya, Thailand from February 20 to 25.

The 23-year-old Kolhapur resident is currently ranked 13 in the women’s singles (standing/upper limb impairment) SU5 world rankings.

The Khelo India gold medallist Arati won a mixed doubles silver medal at the 2017 Asian Youth Para Games and has accumulated seven bronze medals in women’s singles and doubles events at various international para-badminton competitions.

Arati has previously competed at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships in 2019.

“I’m thrilled to be qualified for the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2024. With the financial burden lifted off my mind, it allows me to fully focus on my game. I am truly grateful for the remarkable support from Punit sir and the Punit Balan Group. The backing has opened doors to top-tier coaching, and advanced training facilities, which will help me to achieve all the goals I have set for myself,” said Arati.

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Riding on his superb performance in the 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. 12 after his third-round exit from the World Championships while Kidambi Srikanth maintained his position at 20th, despite making an early exit at the World Championship.

In women’s singles, former world champion P.V. Sindhu moved one place up to 14th position following her first-round exit from the World Championship.

In top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty held onto their second place, despite their quarterfinal defeat in the World Championship against Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen.

The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand gained two spots to be placed 17th in the world rankings after their pre-quarterfinal finish at the World Championship.

Copenhagen (Denmark), Aug 26 (IANS) The fantastic run of India’s H.S. Prannoy in the BWF World Championships came to an end in the final as he went down to former world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in a hard-fought men’s singles semifinal on Saturday.

The world No.9 Indian began the semifinal clash on a strong note and clinched the opening game with an aggressive approach. But the effort of beating two former world champions in marathon encounters in the earlier rounds seemed to catch up with him as he went down to the third seed from Thailand, 21-18, 13-21, 14-21 in the 76-minute encounter.

Prannoy will now bring home the country’s only bronze medal from the 2023 edition of the championships, becoming the fifth Indian male player after Prakash Padukone (bronze – 1953), B Sai Praneeth (bronze – 2019) and Kidambi Srikanth (silver – 2021) and Lakshya Sen (bronze 2021).

In the opening game on Saturday, Prannoy adopted a simple game plan of not allowing Vitidsarn to settle into any sort of rhythm. He was good at anticipating his opponent’s cross-court smashes and opened up an 11-5 lead at the mid-game interval after winning seven straight points from a 4-5 deficit.

The 31-year-old Indian, star of India’s Thomas Cup triumph. was put under pressure thereafter by VItidsarn but kept his nerves to convert the second game point.

With the momentum in his favour, Prannoy opened up a 4-0 lead in the second game before Vitidsarn slowed the game down, forcing his opponent to take more risks while going for the winners. The ploy worked as he won five consecutive points to take an 11-7 lead at the midgame interval.

The Thai shuttler was in complete control after that as he forced a decider and it felt like Prannoy needed to summon up all his reserves to keep his hopes of making the final alive.

Prannoy began aggressively again but Vitidsarn relied on his defence to force the Indian into long rallies tiring him further.

And once the players changed ends with the Indian shuttler trailing 7-11, it was always an uphill task for him to close the gap. A wide smash after an hour and 16 minutes from Prannoy meant that Vitidsarn would be playing in his second consecutive World Championship final, in which he will face the winner of the match between Kodai Naraoka of Japan and Anders Antonsen of Denmark.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) General Secretary Sanjay Mishra congratulated Prannoy on his bronze-winning effort.

“It has been a remarkable week for Prannoy. Defeating two former world champions is not an easy task. This Bronze medal is a testament to his hard work, dedication and perseverance. 

“We at the Badminton Association of India are very proud of our shuttlers as we have continued our medal-winning streak at the BWF World Championships since 2011. I wish Prannoy more success at the upcoming competitions,” he was quoted as saying in a release on Saturday.

Saina Nehwal is taking in the breathtaking scenery in the Kashmir region after completing the Amarnath Yatra.

The Olympic medalist went to all the well-known tourist attractions in Srinagar, such as the Nishat Gardens, Zero Bridge, and Dal Lake.

At the well-known tourist attraction of Gulmarg, she also delighted in the gondola ride through the snow-capped mountains.

Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen earned victories in consecutive games to advance to the quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles competitions at the Council Bluffs US Open Super 300 badminton tournament.

Third-seeded Sindhu, who has won two Olympic medals, defeated Korea’s Sung Shuo Yun 21-14, 21-12. After winning the Canada Open Super 500 the previous week, Sen defeated Jan Louda of the Czech Republic in 39 minutes, winning 21-8, 23-21.

Following Sindhu’s match against China’s Gao Fang Jie, the men’s singles match will feature an all-Indian contest between third seed Sen and the talented 19-year-old S Sankar Muthusamy from Chennai.

The 2022 World Junior Championships silver medalist’s excellent run has included a valiant 21-18 21-23 21-13 victory over Israel’s Misha Zilberman.

In contrast to Sung, who was unable to really challenge the Indian during the match, Sindhu didn’t exert much effort. Early on, Sindhu went out to a 7-2 advantage that she later increased to 13-5.

Sung was able to reduce the lead to 11–14, but Sindhu put an end to any hopes of a comeback by controlling the rallies and ultimately winning the match.

After the switch of sides, Sung originally started to match the Indian as she held a slim 5-3 lead, but it quickly vanished as Sindhu broke off from 7-7 to advance.

At the half, Sindhu led 11-8, and she maintained her lead while Sung lost her composure. From 16-12, Sindhu effortlessly racked up the final points.

Sen too quickly moved out to a 6-1 lead and then quickly increased that margin to 17-5 to eliminate his opponent in the first game. But in the second game, the 39-year-old Czech had a stunning comeback that was difficult for Sen.

Jan had leads of 8–5 and 19–14 when there was a chance for a turnaround, but Sen produced an incredible comeback with five points to tie the game at 19–19. After numerous close rallies, Sen then saved a game point to end the game.