While the current Indian team has experienced shuttlers in Kidambi Srikanth and H. S. Prannoy, members of the squad which achieved a historic triumph four years ago, major responsibility will be on Lakshya, Ayush and Satwik-Chirag to take the team past a tough opponent in Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Chinese Taipei squad features World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen, World No. 8 Lin Chun-Yi and World No. 21 Chi Yu Jen as its top three singles players. Chun-Yi had beaten Lakshya in last month’s All England Open final.
Chinese Taipei also has Chia Hao Lee, the 2025 All England Open runner-up, as another option in singles. It’s first-choice doubles pair is Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-lin while the second duo is Liu Kuang Heng and Yang Po Han.
In the group stage, Chinese Taipei began with a 5-0 win over Sweden. It squandered a 2-0 lead and lost to Korea. However, it not avoided elimination but ended up topping its group after beating Denmark 3-2 in its last tie in which Chi Yu Jen saved five match points to beat Ditlev Jaeger Holm 21-11, 9-11, 27-25 in the deciding singles.
While the current Indian team has experienced shuttlers in Kidambi Srikanth and H. S. Prannoy, members of the squad which achieved a historic triumph four years ago, major responsibility will be on Lakshya, Ayush and Satwik-Chirag to take the team past a tough opponent in Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Chinese Taipei squad features World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen, World No. 8 Lin Chun-Yi and World No. 21 Chi Yu Jen as its top three singles players. Chun-Yi had beaten Lakshya in last month’s All England Open final.
Chinese Taipei also has Chia Hao Lee, the 2025 All England Open runner-up, as another option in singles. It’s first-choice doubles pair is Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-lin while the second duo is Liu Kuang Heng and Yang Po Han.
In the group stage, Chinese Taipei began with a 5-0 win over Sweden. It squandered a 2-0 lead and lost to Korea. However, it not avoided elimination but ended up topping its group after beating Denmark 3-2 in its last tie in which Chi Yu Jen saved five match points to beat Ditlev Jaeger Holm 21-11, 9-11, 27-25 in the deciding singles.
Published on Apr 30, 2026
#India #face #Chinese #Taipei #Thomas #Cup #quarterfinals">India to face Chinese Taipei in Thomas Cup quarterfinals
India will face Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of Thomas Cup, as per the draw held by the Badminton World Federation in Horsens, Denmark, on Thursday.
India finished second behind defending champion China in Group A while Chinese Taipei topped Group C.
In the other last-eight fixtures, China will take on Malaysia, Thailand will be up against host Denmark while Japan will meet France.
India, the 2022 champion, started its campaign with a 4-1 victory over Canada before thrashing Australia 5-0 but it went down 2-3 to China in its last group-stage encounter.
Ayush Shetty, fresh off his runner-up finish at the Badminton Asia Championships, is in fine form and has won all three singles. However, India’s top singles player Lakshya Sen has suffered defeat twice – against Victor Lai (Canada) and Li Shi Feng (China). The doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also enter the knockout stage after a heartbreaking 13-21, 21-13, 24-26 loss to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
While the current Indian team has experienced shuttlers in Kidambi Srikanth and H. S. Prannoy, members of the squad which achieved a historic triumph four years ago, major responsibility will be on Lakshya, Ayush and Satwik-Chirag to take the team past a tough opponent in Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Chinese Taipei squad features World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen, World No. 8 Lin Chun-Yi and World No. 21 Chi Yu Jen as its top three singles players. Chun-Yi had beaten Lakshya in last month’s All England Open final.
Chinese Taipei also has Chia Hao Lee, the 2025 All England Open runner-up, as another option in singles. It’s first-choice doubles pair is Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-lin while the second duo is Liu Kuang Heng and Yang Po Han.
In the group stage, Chinese Taipei began with a 5-0 win over Sweden. It squandered a 2-0 lead and lost to Korea. However, it not avoided elimination but ended up topping its group after beating Denmark 3-2 in its last tie in which Chi Yu Jen saved five match points to beat Ditlev Jaeger Holm 21-11, 9-11, 27-25 in the deciding singles.
The squad, led by double Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu, features in-form youngsters Unnati Hooda, Tanvi Sharma, Devika Sihag and Isharani Baruah as other options for singles. Additionally, the team also has Tanisha Crasto due to her experience across doubles formats.
🚨 Important 🚨
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will not partake in the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2026 due to the former’s injury.
Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam have replaced the pair in the Indian women’s team.
The squad, led by double Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu, features in-form youngsters Unnati Hooda, Tanvi Sharma, Devika Sihag and Isharani Baruah as other options for singles. Additionally, the team also has Tanisha Crasto due to her experience across doubles formats.
🚨 Important 🚨
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will not partake in the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2026 due to the former’s injury.
Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam have replaced the pair in the Indian women’s team.
The women’s side is in Group A with 16-time winner China, three-time runner-up Denmark and Ukraine.
India has two bronze medals in the Uber Cup – 2014 and 2016 – with a young Sindhu being a member of both squads.
Published on Apr 17, 2026
#Uber #Cup #TreesaGayatri #pair #ruled #due #injury #Shruti #Priya #named #replacements">Uber Cup 2026: Treesa-Gayatri pair ruled out due to injury; Shruti and Priya named as replacements
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, India’s top women’s doubles pair, will not be participating at the upcoming Uber Cup Finals, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) announced on Friday.
The duo, No. 30 in the latest BWF Rankings, has been out of action since Treesa sustained an injury during the first round at last month’s Swiss Open.
BAI has named Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam, the pair currently ranked 48th, as their replacements for the women’s competition set to be held in Horsens, Denmark, from April 24 to May 3. Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi form the other doubles pair.
The squad, led by double Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu, features in-form youngsters Unnati Hooda, Tanvi Sharma, Devika Sihag and Isharani Baruah as other options for singles. Additionally, the team also has Tanisha Crasto due to her experience across doubles formats.
🚨 Important 🚨
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will not partake in the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2026 due to the former’s injury.
Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam have replaced the pair in the Indian women’s team.
#Danish #badminton #legend #Viktor #Axelsen #Olympic #World #Champion #announces #retirement">Danish badminton legend Viktor Axelsen, former Olympic and World Champion, announces retirement
Viktor Axelsen, a two-time Olympic and World Champion, announced his retirement from professional badminton at the age of 32 on Wednesday.
In a social media post, the Dane said, “Today is not an easy day for me. Due to my recurrent back issues, I am no longer able to compete and train at the highest level.”
“Accepting this situation has been incredibly difficult. But I have now reached a point where my body won’t allow me to continue.”
Axelsen first came into the limelight in 2010 when he became the Junior World Champion.
He won back-to-back gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024), in addition to a bronze in Rio de Janeiro (2016). He also clinched two World Championship titles in 2017 and 2022, and triumphed at three straight BWF World Tour Finals between 2021 and 2023.
Axelsen, a three-time European Champion, also led Denmark to its maiden Thomas Cup title in 2016.
He spent a total of 183 weeks as the No. 1 player in the men’s BWF Rankings, the third-longest reign in history, trailing only Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei (398) and China’s Lin Dan (211).
“Since the day I picked up a racket, I knew my dream was to become the best in the world. I have given everything to this sport. It has never been just a career to me. It has been my life and I have left no stone unturned,” said Axelsen, who had been out of action since the French Open in October last year.
“I have accomplished everything I once dreamed of, and more,” he said. “What makes it hardest to say goodbye is not the competition itself, but everything around it. The journey, the daily grind, the people,” added the 6’4” tall Dane.
It was the second meeting between Ayush and Vitidsarn. They had previously faced each other during last year’s Arctic Open where the Thai shuttler had triumphed 21-15, 21-16. Paris Olympics silver medallist Vitidsarn seemed to be on track to repeat that result in Ningbo as he dominated the Indian player to clinch the first game easily.
However, Ayush turned the tide as he strengthened his defence and kept a fair distance between him and Vitidsarn from the beginning. He led 11-4 at the mid-game interval and soon, earned six games points. But the 24-year-old Thai shuttler, a former World Champion, reeled off five points on the trot.
On the sixth attempt, Ayush finally got the job done with a down-the-line jump smash to take the second game.
In the decider, Ayush took a four-point lead going into the mid-game interval. He converted the second of his four match points to complete a famour win.
It has been a memorable week for Ayush, who had won the BWF World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2023. He began his campaign with an upset win over China’s Li Shi Feng, World No. 7, in straight games. He followed it up with a convincing 21-16, 21-12 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen, World No. 20.
In the quarterfinals, the reigning U.S. Open Champion defeated World No. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 23-21, 21-17.
It was the second meeting between Ayush and Vitidsarn. They had previously faced each other during last year’s Arctic Open where the Thai shuttler had triumphed 21-15, 21-16. Paris Olympics silver medallist Vitidsarn seemed to be on track to repeat that result in Ningbo as he dominated the Indian player to clinch the first game easily.
However, Ayush turned the tide as he strengthened his defence and kept a fair distance between him and Vitidsarn from the beginning. He led 11-4 at the mid-game interval and soon, earned six games points. But the 24-year-old Thai shuttler, a former World Champion, reeled off five points on the trot.
On the sixth attempt, Ayush finally got the job done with a down-the-line jump smash to take the second game.
In the decider, Ayush took a four-point lead going into the mid-game interval. He converted the second of his four match points to complete a famour win.
It has been a memorable week for Ayush, who had won the BWF World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2023. He began his campaign with an upset win over China’s Li Shi Feng, World No. 7, in straight games. He followed it up with a convincing 21-16, 21-12 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen, World No. 20.
In the quarterfinals, the reigning U.S. Open Champion defeated World No. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 23-21, 21-17.
Published on Apr 11, 2026
#Badminton #Asia #Championships #Ayush #shocks #World #Vitidsarn #Indian #reach #mens #singles #final">Badminton Asia Championships 2026: Ayush shocks World No. 1 Vitidsarn, becomes second Indian ever to reach men’s singles final
Ayush Shetty’s impressive campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 continued on Saturday as he stunned defending champion and World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn, becoming only the second Indian ever to reach the men’s singles final at the continental event.
Dinesh Khanna had won gold at the 1965 edition. Since then, Khanna (1969), Suresh Goel (1965), Prakash Padukone (1976), Pullela Gopichand (2000), Anup Sridhar (2007) and H. S. Prannoy (2018) have all won bronze medals.
World No. 25 Ayush upset Thailand’s Vitidsarn 10-21, 21-19, 21-17 in an hour and 15 minutes in Ningbo, China, to reach the summit clash where he’ll face either second-seeded Chinese Shi Yu Qi or Chou Tien Chen, the fourth-seeded player from Chinese Taipei.
It was the second meeting between Ayush and Vitidsarn. They had previously faced each other during last year’s Arctic Open where the Thai shuttler had triumphed 21-15, 21-16. Paris Olympics silver medallist Vitidsarn seemed to be on track to repeat that result in Ningbo as he dominated the Indian player to clinch the first game easily.
However, Ayush turned the tide as he strengthened his defence and kept a fair distance between him and Vitidsarn from the beginning. He led 11-4 at the mid-game interval and soon, earned six games points. But the 24-year-old Thai shuttler, a former World Champion, reeled off five points on the trot.
On the sixth attempt, Ayush finally got the job done with a down-the-line jump smash to take the second game.
In the decider, Ayush took a four-point lead going into the mid-game interval. He converted the second of his four match points to complete a famour win.
It has been a memorable week for Ayush, who had won the BWF World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2023. He began his campaign with an upset win over China’s Li Shi Feng, World No. 7, in straight games. He followed it up with a convincing 21-16, 21-12 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen, World No. 20.
In the quarterfinals, the reigning U.S. Open Champion defeated World No. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 23-21, 21-17.
#Badminton #Asia #Championships #Sindhu #wins #thriller">Badminton Asia Championships 2026: Sindhu wins a thriller in first round
Two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu survived a scare in the first round of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 in Ningbo, China, on Wednesday.
Playing a match after more than two months, Sindhu came from behind to defeat Malaysian World No. 38 Wong Ling Ching 15-21, 21-11, 21-19 in an hour and seven minutes. The Indian will face second-seeded Chinese and two-time champion Wang Zhi Yi for a place in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, Ayush delivered a statement performance, upsetting World No. 7 and last year’s bronze medallist Li Shi Feng of China in straight games – 21-13, 21-16 in 51 minutes. Ayush will take on Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.
Later in the day, Lakshya Sen, H.S. Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma will also be in action singles.
Indian Results (Round of 32)
Women’s Singles: P. V. Sindhu bt Wong Ling Ching (MAS) 15-21, 21-11, 21-19; Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA) bt Malvika Bansod 21-10, 21-19
Men’s Singles: Ayush Shetty bt [5] Li Shi Feng (CHN) 21-13, 21-16
Women’s Doubles: [8] Li Yi Jing (CHN)/Luo Xu Min (CHN) bt Kavipriya Selvam/Simran Singhi 21-9, 21-8
![Badminton Asia Championships 2026: Sindhu wins a thriller in first round Two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu survived a scare in the first round of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 in Ningbo, China, on Wednesday.Playing a match after more than two months, Sindhu came from behind to defeat Malaysian World No. 38 Wong Ling Ching 15-21, 21-11, 21-19 in an hour and seven minutes. The Indian will face second-seeded Chinese and two-time champion Wang Zhi Yi for a place in the quarterfinals.Earlier, Ayush delivered a statement performance, upsetting World No. 7 and last year’s bronze medallist Li Shi Feng of China in straight games – 21-13, 21-16 in 51 minutes. Ayush will take on Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.Later in the day, Lakshya Sen, H.S. Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma will also be in action singles.Indian Results (Round of 32)Women’s Singles: P. V. Sindhu bt Wong Ling Ching (MAS) 15-21, 21-11, 21-19; Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA) bt Malvika Bansod 21-10, 21-19Men’s Singles: Ayush Shetty bt [5] Li Shi Feng (CHN) 21-13, 21-16Women’s Doubles: [8] Li Yi Jing (CHN)/Luo Xu Min (CHN) bt Kavipriya Selvam/Simran Singhi 21-9, 21-8Published on Apr 08, 2026 #Badminton #Asia #Championships #Sindhu #wins #thriller](https://i3.wp.com/ss-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/m528sz/article70837319.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/YONEX%20BADMINTON%20DELHI_14_01_35.jpg?ssl=1 "Badminton Asia Championships 2026: Sindhu wins a thriller in first round Two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu survived a scare in the first round of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 in Ningbo, China, on Wednesday.Playing a match after more than two months, Sindhu came from behind to defeat Malaysian World No. 38 Wong Ling Ching 15-21, 21-11, 21-19 in an hour and seven minutes. The Indian will face second-seeded Chinese and two-time champion Wang Zhi Yi for a place in the quarterfinals.Earlier, Ayush delivered a statement performance, upsetting World No. 7 and last year’s bronze medallist Li Shi Feng of China in straight games – 21-13, 21-16 in 51 minutes. Ayush will take on Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.Later in the day, Lakshya Sen, H.S. Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma will also be in action singles.Indian Results (Round of 32)Women’s Singles: P. V. Sindhu bt Wong Ling Ching (MAS) 15-21, 21-11, 21-19; Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA) bt Malvika Bansod 21-10, 21-19Men’s Singles: Ayush Shetty bt [5] Li Shi Feng (CHN) 21-13, 21-16Women’s Doubles: [8] Li Yi Jing (CHN)/Luo Xu Min (CHN) bt Kavipriya Selvam/Simran Singhi 21-9, 21-8Published on Apr 08, 2026 #Badminton #Asia #Championships #Sindhu #wins #thriller")