Badminton
Indian Sports Live Updates: March 18 — Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Sutirtha Mukherjee qualify for Olympics, Sindhu reached All-England Open Badminton 2021 quarters
Latest updates on Indian sports news and features from All England Open Badminton Championships, Manika Batra qualification etc.
Welcome to The Bridge's live blog for your latest news and interesting features on Indian sports.
India had a mixed start to the prestigious 2021 All-England Badminton Open with PV Sindhu sailing to the Round of 16. However, the men's singles draw saw Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap knocked out in Round of 32. Late in the night, Saina Nehwal had to retire from her match against Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt due to an injury.
Meanwhile, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has beaten Sharath Kamal 4-3 in Round 1 of the Olympic Table Tennis Qualification tournament in Doha. He is one win away from Tokyo Olympics.
Follow LIVE blog action from Day 2 of All-England Badminton Open 2021 here:
Live Updates
- 18 March 2021 5:25 PM GMT
Satwik-Chirag's campaign ends in Round of 16
Satwiksairaj Reddy/Chirag Shetty goes down in pre-quarterfinal against Denmark's Astrup-Rasmussen in three games 16-21, 21-11, 17-21
For the second time this month, they lose against the Danish pair — the previous loss coming in Swiss Open.
- 18 March 2021 4:46 PM GMT
Ashwini/Sikki storms into quarter-finals!
Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy has pulled off a major upset beating the sixth-seeded pair from Bulgaria 21-17, 21-10 to reach the quarter-final of women's doubles in the 2021 All England Open Badminton Championships,
- 18 March 2021 3:26 PM GMT
PV SINDHU WINS! Moves to quarter-final.
PV Sindhu comfortably gets the better of her young opponent from Denmark 21-8, 21-8 to reach the quarter-final of 2021 All England Badminton Open Championships. This was the first time the two shuttlers faced each other.
So, as things stand now, only Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu have reached the last eight. Few more games to go.
- 18 March 2021 3:11 PM GMT
PV Sindhu wins the first game in 13 minutes!
A 13-point win in just 12 minutes by PV Sindhu in the opening game of her Round of 16 match against the 20-year-old Line Christophersen at the 2021 All-England Badminton Open Championships,
21-8 for Sindhu in first game.
- 18 March 2021 3:05 PM GMT
Sai Praneeth loses
A good fight by Sai Praneeth but he could not hold to the first game lead, going down 21-15, 12-21, 12-21 to World No. 2 Victor Axelsen in the Round of 16 at the All-England Badminton Open 2021.
Only Sameer Verma (pre-QF) and Lakshya Sen (QF) left in men's singles event.
- 18 March 2021 2:56 PM GMT
Axelsen takes second game, makes it 1-1.
Axelsen has roared back, winning the second game 21-12 and is now leading Sai Praneeth 11-8 at the break of third game.
- 18 March 2021 2:27 PM GMT
Sai Praneeth wins 21-15 in Game 1
Sai Praneeth floors Victor Axelsen with five consecutive points to close the first game at 21-15.
- 18 March 2021 2:22 PM GMT
Sai Praneeth vs World No. 2
Sai Praneeth is now up against World No. 2 Victor Axelsen. The Indian has a 1-4 head-to-head record against the Danish but has actually started well leading 15-10 in the first game.
- 18 March 2021 2:15 PM GMT
Indian Football: KWL comes to an end after a month!
News from Indian football. Kickstart FC today became the champions of Karnataka Women's League after a 1-0 victory over Bangalore United on the final day of the league. They will be representing Karnataka in the Indian Women's League later this year.
The Bridge live streamed all matches from the league and you can check it on our YouTube channel. Click here.
- 18 March 2021 2:01 PM GMT
Sharath Kamal is going to the Olympics for the 4th time
With his win against the player from Pakistan, it is almost certain that he will go through as the highest-ranked reserve player even if Sathiyan wins later today.
Very happy to have qualified for my 4th Olympic Games, in men’s singles. Focused now on the mixed doubles qualification which is still underway here in Doha.#TableTennis #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/xJNhhTzX3q
— Sharath Kamal OLY (@sharathkamal1) March 18, 2021
