China Open 2024: Malvika Bansod enters Super 1000 quarterfinals for the first time by defeating top seed Kirsty Gilmour
The 23-year-old badminton player achieved this victory a day after defeating the Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia. However, Malvika Bansod is the only Indian shuttler left in the competition.
Indian badminton player Malvika Bansod continued her brilliant form and entered the Super 1000 quarter-finals for the first time by winning a tough match against her higher ranked opponent Kirsty Gilmour at the China Open 2024 in Changzhou on Thursday.
Malvika Bansod, BWFranking 43rd, toiled hard for one hour and five minutes before defeating two-time Commonwealth Games medalist and world number 25 Gilmour of Scotland 21-17 19-21 21-16 in the women's singles round-of-16 match.
Earlier defeated Paris Olympics bronze medalist
The 23-year-old player achieved this victory a day after defeating the Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.
However, Malvika Bansod, the only Indian shuttler left in the competition, faces a tough challenge as she will face fourth seed and two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the last eight stage.
Although the Japanese shuttler has won both the matches against Malvika, the Indian shuttler came close to defeating Yamaguchi and she is hopeful that she will be able to register victory this time.
Malvika's sensational performance in pre-quarterfinals
In the opening game against Gilmour, Malvika was down 11-5 at the break. The Indian shuttler brought down the deficit to two points at 16-14 and then won seven of the next eight points to go one game up in the contest. Gilmour, drew on her experience to mount a comeback and close a tight second game.
Malvika surged to an eight-point lead at 10-2 in the decider. She later extended her advantage to 20-11. Gilmour fought back with five consecutive points to make it 20-16 but the late fightback proved too little for Malvika, who comfortably sealed her spot in the quarter-finals.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu has made it to the quarter-finals of the BWF World Championships after she knocked out World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi of China in straight games in the women's singles round of 16 match on Thursday.
Sindhu maintained her dominance against Wang Zhi Yi. She defeated Wang for the third time in the 5th head to head match. Sindhu was the underdog against Wang, who was coming off a title triumph at the China Open last month.
World No. 15 Sindhu won the first game by a margin of 21-19 after a tough fight. After winning the first game, Sindhu took a lead of 12-6 in the second game as well. She maintained this lead and won the match by winning the second game by a margin of 21-15.
Sindhu continued her perfect run in the tournament
With this win, PV Sindhu continued her perfect run in the tournament. She has not dropped a single game in her three matches so far. The two-time Olympic medallist is now just one win away from securing her sixth World Championships medal.
For Sindhu, this victory also marks her first quarter-final appearance at the World Championships since her title-winning run six years ago. It also sends a strong message to rivals that the seasoned campaigner is far from done on the big stage.
Sindhu will now take on World No. 9 Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in the last eight. Sindhu has faced her four times and won twice.
The 23-year-old Wardani has been in good form this year, having won 27 matches and lost only 12 games. Sindhu, on the other hand, has lost 12 games in 2025 and won just nine. Wardani’s best performances this year have been third-place finishes at the Thailand Masters and Swiss Open.
Unpack the performance of India in two grand sporting events in their history of participation. We bring you the accurate comparison of Commonwealth vs Olympics and India's medal ratios in them. Check them out.
The Olympic Games are the world's oldest sporting spectacle, uniting athletes globally every four years. Medals here represent the ultimate standard of international athletic excellence. In contrast, the Commonwealth Games, known as the "Friendly Games," gather athletes from Commonwealth nations. While a major multi-sport event, its scale and competitive depth differ from the Olympics.
We bring you a direct comparison of performance in Commonwealth vs Olympics and India's medal ratios, based on their historical participation.
India's Olympic medal journey
Neeraj Chopra after winning a Gold medal in 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Image | NDTV
India debuted in the Olympic Games in 1900, where Norman Pritchard, a British-Indian athlete, won 2 silver medals in athletics. This victory marked the beginning of India's medal book at the grandest stage of sport.
For a significant period following this, India's Olympic identity was primarily defined by the success of Men's Hockey team. They dominated the sport, winning six consecutive goldmedals from 1928 to 1956, and adding further golds in 1964 and 1980.
India's rise in the Olympics came after the 2000s, where individual athletes proved themselves and won medals for the nation.
K. D. Jadhav (1952): Bronze in Wrestling. First individual medalist for independent India.
Leander Paes (1996): He brought the first-ever medal for India in tennis with his Bronze medal win.
Karnam Malleswari (2000): First Indian woman to win an Olympic medal (Bronze in Weightlifting)
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004): Silver in Shooting. India's first medal in this sport.
Vijender Singh (2008): First Indian athlete to win a medal in Boxing (Bronze).
Abhinav Bindra (2008): India's first individual Gold medalist (Sport: Shooting)
Saina Nehwal (2012): Second Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. She also brought the first medal for India in Badminton with her Bronze.
Neeraj Chopra (2020/2021): Gold in Javelin throw. India's second individual gold.
Manu Bhaker (2024): Second Indian to win 2 medals (Bronze in shooting) in a single Olympic edition.
India's dominance in the Commonwealth Games
Jaspal Rana- India's most successful athlete at the Commonwealth Games. Image | X
India's debut at the Commonwealth Games (then British Empire Games) was in 1934 in London, where Rashid Anwar won the nation's first medal – a bronze in wrestling. Over the decades, India's presence has grown, cementing its status as a leading nation within the Commonwealth sporting fraternity.
Notable achivements:
Milkha Singh (Athletics): First Indian to win a Gold medal at the CWG, in 1958.
Jaspal Rama(Shooting): Most successful Indian athlete at the commonwealth games. He won 15 medals overall (9 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze)
Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis): Won 4 medals (3 gold, 1 silver) in 2022, making him India's most successful athlete at that event.
Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh(Badminton): First Indian women to win a medal in the CWG. They won a bronze medal in women's doubles badminton in 1978.
Roopa Unnikrishnan(Shooting): First Indian woman to win a Gold medal at the CWG in 1998.
Indian flag alongside the logos of Commonwealth Games and Olympics. Image | sportzpoint
OLYMPICS: India has won 41 medals in the history of Olympic Games, which includes 10 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 21 bronze medals. India's most successful sport Olympic sport is Field Hockey (Men's team). They earned 13 medals in total.
COMMONWEALTH GAMES: India has won 564 medals in the history of CWG, with 203 gold, 190 silver, and 171 bronze medals. Their most successful sport at the games is Shooting, where they won 63 gold medals, and a total of 135 medals.
BWF US Open 2025: India's Ayush Shetty wins men's singles, Tanvi Sharma finishes as runner-up in women's singles
Ayush Shetty won his maiden Super 300 title by winning the men's singles title at BWF US Open 2025. Meanwhile, 16-year-old sensation Tnavi Sharma finished runner-up in women's singles.
Ayush Shetty won his maiden Super 300 title by winning the men's singles title at the BWF US Open 2025. Meanwhile, 16-year-old sensation Tnavi Sharma finished runner-up in women's singles.
Image | BAI on X
Ayush defeated Canada's Brian Yang in straight games 21-13, 21-18 to lift the title. Shetty became the 5th Indian men's singles shuttler to win a Super 300+ title after Lakshya Sen,HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, and Sameer Verma.
After 8 years, India won a title at the US Open in any discipline since H.S. Prannoy won in 2017.
Image | Badminton Photo via BAI on X.
However, it was not a perfect end for 16-year-old Tanvi Sharma as she faced a heartfelt defeat against home favourite and No. 1 seed Beiwen Zhang of the USA 11-21, 21-16, 21-10 in the finals.
Tanvi, who is now the youngest player ever to reach the final of any Super 300 tournament, had won all the sets until the final. She had defeated WR23, WR58, WR50 & WR40 to reach the final.
🚨𝑩𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 🏸
🇮🇳Ayush Shetty won his maiden BWF Super300 title, winning the US Open 2025.
Indian star shuttler PV Sindhu has been eliminated from the Indonesia Open 2025 badminton tournament after losing in the round of 16. She was defeated badly by Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.
Sindhu shows tremendous fight in first two games
PV Sindhu started the match brilliantly. She won the first game 22-20. She did not give any chance to the opponent to recover in this game. Pornpawee Chochuwong had no answer to Sindhu's aggressive returns as the score read 10-16 in favour in the first game. However, the tables turned completely in the second game.
Where Sindhu looked set to lose the first game, she pulled it right back in to clinch it, as the score read 22-20. After winning the first game, where Sindhu hoped to capitalise, Chochuwong was quick to turn it around, dominating Sindhu in the game, winning it by 21-10; furthermore, she went on to win the third game by 21-18, as Sindhu was eliminated from the Indonesia Open 2025 badminton tournament.
Satwik-Chirag enter quarterfinals
On the other hand, Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came back from a game down to notch up a win to enter the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open 2025.
Satwik-Chirag beat Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard 16-21, 21-18, 22-20 in a match lasting one hour and eight minutes in the BWF Super 1000 tournament.
Treesa-Gayatri lost
The women’s doubles duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also lost 13-21, 22-24 to Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto of Japan in the round of 16 stage.
In mixed doubles, Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath exited after a straight-game loss against Thailand’s Dechapol Puavarankuroh and Supissara Paewsampran. The scoreline read 21-7, 21-12 in favour of the Thai shuttlers, who wrapped up the match in just 25 minutes.
Singapore Open 2025: Stawik-Chirag storms into the semifinals with straight-game win over world No. 1
India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the Singapore Open 2025 semifinals with a straight-game win over world No. 1 Malaysian duo.
The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty performed brilliantly in the Singapore Open 2025 badminton tournament, making it to the semifinals with a straight-game win over world No. 1 Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin on Friday.
The Indian pair, which has been facing fitness challenges for some time, showed excellent performance in this match. The Indian pair displayed rock-solid defence and controlled the front court with precision to register a 21-17, 21-15 win in a 39-minute quarterfinal clash at the Singapore Open 2025 Super 750 badminton tournament.
Third semifinal of the season
This is their third semifinal appearance of the season, having reached the last-four stage at both the Malaysia and India Open earlier this year.
The former world No. 1 Indians held a 6-2 head-to-head record against the Malaysians going into the match, although they had lost their most recent meeting at the India Open.
Match Report
The match began with two service faults in the first four points and featured short rallies as both pairs looked to execute angled returns and attack at the earliest opportunity. As a result, the score moved evenly from 1-1 to 7-7 before the Indians gained a three-point cushion at the interval, with Satwik dictating the serve and third shot.
The Indian pair maintained the pressure to go up 15-11 before Satwik committed a service error and Izzuddin unleashed a jump smash to narrow the gap to 13-15. A brutal forehand smash from Satwik pushed India ahead at 18-15. Izzuddin then hit one wide, and Chirag, who had earlier sent a shot long, redeemed himself with a straight smash to earn three game points.
Goh buried a service return into the net, handing the Indians the opening game and the early advantage. Chirag made a few errors early in the second game, but the Indians did well to keep pace in the high-speed exchanges, with the score level at 6-6.
Satwik and Chirag then reeled off four consecutive points before an unforced error halted their momentum. A body blow from Chirag forced a weak return from Izzuddin into the net, giving India a four-point lead at the interval. A sharp backhand at the net took the Indians to 15-9 after the break. Satwik then sent down a thunderous smash to make it 16-10.
Though the Indians committed a few unforced errors, Satwik produced another fierce return to earn five match points. They sealed the win after another error from their opponents.
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