China registered a 3-1 win over South Korea in front of a packed home crowd in the eastern city of Kunshan, near Shanghai for their third straight Uber Cup title and 14th in total

Liu Xurei led the Chinese women's national squad to victory over South Korea at the Uber Cup final on Saturday, securing the country's 14th world badminton team championship title in dominant fashion.

China rarely surrendered command over the court during their 3-1 triumph in front of a packed home crowd in the eastern city of Kunshan, near Shanghai.

Li, the world number three, brushed off an early deficit after dropping the first game to seventh-ranked Sung Ji-hyun.

The Olympic gold medallist rallied back for the win by controlling the pace and keeping the South Korean out of sync with repeated drop shots in the 14-21, 21-13, 21-10 victory.

"Every step in the team match is one step for myself," Li told a news conference after the match, adding she planned to celebrate "quietly" after the week-long tournament.

Sixth-ranked doubles team Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan from South Korea prevented a whitewash, powering through a 16-21, 21-17, 25-23 scrap against the world number four China duo of Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei that clocked in at 94 minutes.

Wang Shixian put China back in the win column as she exhausted Kim Hyo-min, moving the shuttlecock across the court at will during the 21-13, 21-12 rout.

Following the win, Wang downplayed her individual efforts and Olympic ambitions as Rio approaches, saying she was proud to be "fighting for our team, for our national team".

Chen Qingchen and Tang Yuanting delivered the third and final victory in the best of five series by beating Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee in straight sets, 21-14, 21-16.

With the championship sealed, the fans in attendance unleashed a deafening approval of the pair's spirited performance as their teammates rushed onto the court to celebrate.

The South Koreans, who were aiming to end their six-year drought at the Uber Cup, were unable to find their groove during the tie and suffered in the absence of their second singles player Bae Yeon-Ju, who was sidelined by an ankle injury sustained on court Friday night.

China have won three-straight Uber Cups and 14 in total since the team first started competing in the tournament in 1984.

China routed India in the Uber Cup badminton semifinals. India settle for bronze after Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu lost their opening singles.

China beat Indian women badminton team at Kunshan on Friday. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu lost their singles matches while Jwala Gutta and Sikki Reddy went down without a fight in their doubles fixture.

The 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie was enough for China to seal a berth in the final. India will have to settle with a bronze, the second time they have won it in the history of the women's team tournament. Top seed China will await the winners of Korea versus Japan in the title match.

Saina went down to Li Xuerui after a battle of attrition. She lost the first game 21-15, won the second 21-12 but the Chinese champion, who won the London Olympics gold in 2012, won the third 21-17. The match lasted over an hour.

Wang Shixian doubled China's lead by winning the second singles. Sindhu lost the first game 21-13 and looked good to win the second but frittered a handy lead to go down 23-21. The match lasted 50 minutes.

China sealed the match by winning the first women's doubles with consummate ease. Jwala Gutta and Sikki Reddy lasted all of 25 minutes as the Chinese pair of Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei won 21-6, 21-6.

Saina Nehwal Loses a Thrilling Opener

Saina played out of her skin in a thrilling match that lasted an hour and four minutes. It was her eighth successive loss to Li. The last time Saina had beaten the Olympic champion was in 2012 Indonesia Open.

Saina blew a 10-6 lead in the opening game before entering the break with a slender 11-10 lead, which Li erased and eventually pocketed the game.

In the second game, Saina erased a 6-2 deficit early on to break off at 8-8 and then reeled off nine straight points to bounce back in style.

In the decider, the duo fought tooth and nail before the Chinese marched ahead from 13-13 to shut the door on Saina.

PV Sindhu's fourth straight defeat to Wang

Coming into the match with a 4-5 head-to-head record against Wang, Sindhu went full throttle before bowing out in a 50-minute match. It was her fourth consecutive loss against the World No. 6.

Sindhu was no match for Wang in the opening game as the Chinese zoomed ahead from 3-3 and never looked back.

In the second game, Sindhu had a healthy 18-8 advantage but Wang fought back and caught up with the Indian at 20-20. The Chinese had the last laugh in a thrilling finish.

Uber Cup: India Women's Team Assured of Bronze With Win Over Thailand

Indian womens shuttler team assured itself of at least a bronze medal after notching a comfortable 3-1 win over Thailand in the quarterfinals of the Uber Cup on Thursday.

The Indian women's team had created history in the last edition when it clinched a historic bronze in New Delhi after losing to Japan in the semifinals.

On a day when India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal bit the dust against 2013 World Champion, Ratchanok Intanon in the first singles, PV Sindhu and the pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa took the responsibility on themselves and won the second singles and first doubles.

It was young shuttler Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, who sealed the win for India after she dished out a superb game to outclass Nitchaon Jindapol in the second singles.

India are likely to take on China in the semifinals on Friday.

"And we are through to the semis!!Woooohooooo! Way to go team! Great team work! Brilliant play Ruthvika," Ashwini wrote on her twitter page.

Olympic bronze-medallist Saina started the proceedings but she could not breach the defence of World No. 2 Ratchanok, who notched a 21-12, 21-19 win over the Indian to give Thailand a 1-0 lead. It was World No. 8 Saina's fifth defeat to the Thai girl.

However, World No. 10 Sindhu brought India back in the hunt after registering a 21-18, 21-7 win over Busanan Ongbumrungphan in the second singles, which lasted 43 minutes at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium.

In the first doubles, 2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala and Ashwini prevailed 21-19, 21-12 over Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in a 39-minute clash to make it 2-1 in India's favour.

Ruthvika was then given the responsibility of taking India home and the 19-year-old showed her prowess with a 21-18, 21-16 win over World No. 25 Nitchaon in a 41-minute third singles to seal the victory for India.

The second doubles between Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai and N Sikki Reddy and Sindhu was thus rendered inconsequential.

Saina Nehwal-led Indian women's team entered the quarterfinals of the prestigious Uber Cup. The men's team, however, went down 5-0 to Indonesia to be knocked out of the Thomas Cup.

Kunshan: The Indian women's team qualified for the Uber Cup badminton tournament quarterfinals despite suffering a narrow 2-3 loss to powerhouse Japan in its third and final Group D match, in Kunshan on Wednesday.
The men's team, however, continued its dismal run in the Thomas Cup and crashed out after being blanked 0-5 by Indonesia in their third match of Group B at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium.
The Indian men's team had lost to Thailand and Hong Kong in its last two outings and will return winless from China.
In Uber Cup, ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu notched up straight-game victories in the first two singles but Indian eves could not win the two doubles and third singles to go down fighting to 2014 runners-up Japan.
Olympic bronze medallist, Saina defeated World No. 5 Nozomi Okuhara 18-21 6-21 to avenge her only loss to the Japanese at the Dubai World Superseries Finals last year and give her team a 1-0 lead.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad fought back from 3-7 15-18 down to pocket the first game and then dished out a dominating game to zoom past Okuhara in the second game to complete the victory in 38 minutes.
In the second singles, two-time World Championship bronze medallist, P V Sindhu notched up a 21-11 21-18 win over World No. 11 Akane Yamaguchi in a 36-minute clash to guide India to a 2-0 lead.
However, Jwala Gutta combined with N Sikki Reddy to take on the formidable World No. 1 pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi and went down without a fight 11-21 8-21 within half an hour in the first women's doubles.
In the third singles, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde was entrusted with the responsibility of taming World No. 12 Sayaka Sato and the Indian expectedly could not match up, going down 7-21 14-21 in 29 minutes to allow Japan draw parity.
In the decider, Ashwini Ponnappa paired up with Sindhu but their gallant fight ended with a 21-15 19-21 16-21 loss to Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito as Indian eves lost 2-3 in their final league match.
However, India still qualified for the knockout stage as they are placed second behind Japan in Group D after winning against Australia and Germany.
The top two teams in each group make it to the knockout stage and there will be another draw for the quarter-finals.
The men's team had yet another forgettable day as it proved no match for Indonesia, who dominated the tie to leave India clueless.
World No. 21 Ajay Jayaram could not get across Christie Jonatan, ranked 19th, losing 14-21 12-21 in a 37-minute battle in the first singles.
Manu Attri and Akshay Dewalkar then joined hands and took the court in the first doubles but lost 18-21 17-21 to Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi in just 28 minutes.
A lot was expected from B Sai Praneeth and the Indian did give his everything but could not prevent a 21-18 11-21 15-21 loss to Ginting Anthony in a 56-minute clash as Indonesia took an unassailable 3-0 lead.
In the second doubles, Sumeeth Reddy B and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were brushed aside by Gideon Markus Fernaldi and Hendra Setiawan 9-21 18-21 and then Sourabh Varma's fight ended with a 10-21 22-20 13-21 loss to Ihsan Maulana Mustofa as Indonesia completed a 5-0 drubbing.

Saina Nehwal-Led India Maul Australia 5-0 in Uber Cup

Kunshan: 

Saina Newhwal-led Indian women's team made a stupendous start to their campaign at the  by thrashing Australia 5-0 on Monday at Uber Cup Badminton Tournament

The Indian Team, which had created history by clinching the bronze medal in the last edition at New Delhi, won all the three singles and both the doubles matches to grab maximum points at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium, China.

World No. 8 Saina Nehwal started the proceedings for India and after a brief struggle against World No. 74 Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen, notched up a 22-20, 21-14 win to give India a 1-0 lead.

Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P.V Sindhu then brushed aside Joy Lai in 25 minutes to make it 2-0.

Celebrated women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa dished out a clinical performance to get past Hsuan-Yu Wendy and Gronya Somerville 21-9, 21-15 in a 28-minute match.

South Asian Games gold-medallist, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde then hammered Tiffany Ho 21-5, 21-11 in the third singles, while Sikki Reddy N and Sindhu dismantled Leanne Choo and Joy Lai 21-12, 21-12 to complete the 5-0 drubbing.

In the opening singles match, Saina had opened a 5-0 lead early on but Chen narrowed it down to 7-8. The Indian ace surged ahead to 14-7 but Chen slowly and steadily made her way back to catch up with her at 19-19.

Saina, however, had the last laugh as she grabbed two points from 20-20 to pocket the first game.

In the second, Chen zoomed to a 13-7 lead but Saina reeled off nine straight points to turn the tables and didn't look back to seal the match.

India will take on Germany on Tuesday in their next Group D match.

India lost 1-3 to Thailand in Thomas Cup opener. B Sai Praneeth was the only winner for India

Kunshun: Ajay Jayaram's gallant fight ended in a defeat in the opening match as Indian men's badminton team suffered a 1-3 loss against Thailand in their campaign-opener at the  here on Sunday.

World No. 21 Jayaram took the court to start the proceedings against Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk but he suffered a mid-match collapse to lose 16-21, 21-12, 14-21 in a 46-minute men's singles match.

Olympic-bound men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B also suffered a 17-21, 6-21 loss against Thailand's Bodin Issara and Nipitphon Puangpuapech in a 30 minute match as India slipped to a 0-2 deficit.

In the second men's singles match, Sai Praneeth B notched up a 21-11 21-16 win against Khosit Phetpradab in 36 minutes to make it 1-2.

In the second doubles, Akshay Dewalkar and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy again lost 15-21 21-14 15-21 to Thailand pair of Puavaranukroh Dechapol and Kedren Kittinupong in a 56-minute to take an unassailable 3-1 lead, rendering the fifth tie between Sourabh Varma and Adulrach Namkul inconsequential.

Jayaram blew a 7-5 lead in the opening match after Tanongsak broke off at 8-8 to eventually pocket the opening match. In the second game, Jayaram turned the tables after advancing from 7-7 to bounce back. In the decider, the Indian ran out of steam as he was left to do the catching up act from 3-3 as the thai shuttler earned a 1-0 lead for his country.

India will next take on Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Saina Nehwal Aims Strong Showing for India in Thomas and Uber Cup

After clinching a historic bronze medal in the last edition, the Indian women's team, led by Saina Nehwal, will eye another good show but it will be an uphill task for the depleted men's team at the Thomas and Uber Cup badminton tournament starting in China on Sunday.

Indian women had reached the quarterfinal for the first time at the 2010 Uber Cup in Kuala Lumpur but it was only in 2014 in New Delhi when they clinched their maiden bronze after going down 2-3 to five-time champions Japan in their maiden semifinals appearance.

Indian women's team have been clubbed with 2014 runners-up

Japan, Australia and Germany and once again the onus will be on Rio-bound shuttlers Saina and P V Sindhu to earn them wins in the two singles. The choice of the third singles player will be among Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, Tanvi Lad and P C Thulasi.

In a format comprising of three singles and two doubles, once again it will be 2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa -- both have booked their Rio berth -- who will carry the responsibility. Besides, there will be N Sikki Reddy and K Maneesha for the second doubles.

Indian women will face Australia in their campaign opener on Monday, before taking on Germany and the formidable Japan in the next two days respectively.

In Thomas Cup competition, Ajay Jayaram will spearhead the Indian challenge while K Srikanth willl give it a miss and H S Prannoy was left nursing a foot injury.

In their absence, the onus will be on B Sai Praneeth, national champion Sameer Verma and his elder brother Sourabh to step up and take responsibility in the three singles.

In the doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who became the first Indian men's doubles pair to qualify for the Olympics, will lead the challenge. Besides them, Akshay Dewalkar, young R Satwik Sai Raj of Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai's Chirag Shetty would complete the line-up.

India has been clubbed in Group B alongwith Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong and though it seems like a relatively easy draw, the absence of top players will hurt India's chances to progress to the knockout stage in what is only their eighth appearance in the prestigious event.

"Srikanth and Prannoy's absence will be a setback, but Sameer and Sai have had some encouraging results of late and hopefully we can step up to the task and get some good wins," Jayaram told PTI.

Indian men will open their campaign against Thailand tomorrow and then square off against Hong Kong and Indonesia on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"We are definitely in a tough group and getting through to the quarters is going to be an uphill task. All 3 group stage ties will be crucial. However, I believe that if we can get off to a good start by getting the better of Thailand it will be good moral boost," said Jayaram.

"It's hard to pick out any particular match that we will rely on as it is a well balanced team and every member will play a crucial role in getting the team through."

Since its inception in 1948-49, the Thomas Cup has been won by only four nations: Malaya/Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Japan while the Indian team failed to reach the knockout stage till 2006.

In 2006, it was the men's team which broke the jinx by reaching the quarterfinals. In 2010, India lost to Indonesia 0-3 in the quarterfinals. In the last edition, India could not go beyond the group stage.

Saina Nehwal, Six Other Indian Badminton Players Qualify For Olympics

Seven Indian shuttlers including Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta, officially earned qualification berths for the August Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after the much-awaited BWF world rankings were released today.

Today's rankings were used to determine the Olympic qualifiers in each of the five categories -- men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles -- from the points accumulated in the period between May 4th 2016 to May 1st 2016

Four years ago, five Indians had qualified at London Olympics. This year, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina would be representing India in her third Games, while the women's doubles pair of Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa will also play their second Olympics in August.

Besides, K Srikanth and P V Sindhu earned their maiden Olympic berths in men's singles and women's events respectively. For the first time, India will have two women's singles players playing in the Olympics.

Other countries with two representatives in women's singles are China (Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan); Japan (Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi) and Korea (Sung Ji Hyun and Bae Yeon Ju).

This will also be the first time that an Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Summeth Reddy will be representing the country in Olympics.

A total of 172 shuttlers made the cut today for the Rio Olympics, where there will be slight change in qualification quotas for men's and women's singles with a maximum quota for singles players from the same National Olympic Committee (NOC) being two places if both players are ranked in the world's top 16.

In London Olympics, three singles players from an NOC could qualify if they were in the top four of the world rankings.

Now it is similar to the quota for doubles in which there is a maximum of two pairs per NOC if both pairs are ranked in the top eight. The total quota per NOC will therefore be reduced from 18 to 16 (eight male and eight female players).

In each singles event, the number of quota places is around 34. Besides, one place is reserved for the host NOC and three for Tripartite Commission Invitation places. However, there are no Tripartite Commission Invitation places in doubles.

The format of the tournament will be similar to the London Olympics with the players being drawn in separate groups in Round-Robin and then a separate draw will be held ahead of the knock-out stage.

Though the Olympic qualifiers have been determined on the basis of today's Race to Rio rankings, a final list of qualifiers will be published after the deadline of July 18, which will include the allocation of quota for Tripartite Commission invitation and host country.

Lee Chong Wei beat Chen Long 21-17, 15-21, 21-13 in the closely-fought Asian Badminton Championship final that lasted an hour and 22 minutes in the central Chinese city of Wuhan

Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei defeated his rival and world number one Chen Long of China on Sunday in the final of the Asian Badminton Championship.

The 33-year-old beat Chen 21-17, 15-21, 21-13 in the closely-fought final that lasted an hour and 22 minutes in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

It is his third title this year and his second at Asian Badminton Championship he last won it in 2006. Lee is currently ranked second in the world.

Chen won seven straight points in the first set before Lee finished off with six straight points for the win. Chen then bounced back in the second set, but Lee won by a large margin in the third, 21-13, to be crowned champion.

In the semi-final on Saturday, Lee easily defeated two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan, while Chen crushed Tian Houwei of China in straight sets.

In the women's singles, China's Wang Yihan defeated Li Xuerui of China 21-14, 13-21, 21-16 in an hour, clinching her third Asian title.

It was an even match with both players having won nine games against each other before Sunday's contest.

Saina Nehwal, fifth seed, lost 16-21, 14-21 to China's Wang Yihan, sixth seed, to crash out of Asian Badminton Championship

Wuhan: Saina Nehwal lost to China's Wang Yihan 16-21, 14-21 to crash out Asian Badminton Championship in Shahghai on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Indian failed to match the sharp play from Yihan as she went down 16-21, 14-21 in 41 minutes at the Wuhan Sports Center.

This loss was the 2015 World Championship runner-up's 11th in 15 meetings against the 2011 world champion and 2012 silver medallist.

Even though the world No.8 Indian started on a decent note, making it 9-6 before the world No.6 Chinese equalised 10-all. Then Yihan upped the ante with a dominant performance. Four points at a stretch meant it was 14-10 and after Saina took a point, another two quick points for Yihan made it 16-11.

Thereafter, Yihan piled further pressure on the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist before taking the game 21-16.

In the second game, 28-year-old Yihan made her intentions very clear from the beginning. Taking cue from the way she finished the first game, she combined stamina, power, deception and quick feet to hold a 11-4 lead at the break. And it soon became 13-4 after which Saina took three consecutive points to make it 7-13.

Yihan then added more sharpness to her game as she took five points at a stretch to put herself on the verge of the entry to final. Then Saina took couple of points but Yihan gained two more points to reach match-point.

Then Saina delayed Yihan's celebration for a bit she took five points on the trot. But it was only about a game and it happened, shutting the door on the Indian's yet another shot at the elusive Asian crown.

Sunday's final pits Yihan against her famed compatriot, the reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui, who moved past South Korean seventh seed Sung Ji Hyun 22-20, 21-11 in 40 minutes.

Both Yihan and Xuerui have won nine games against each other and will be vying to earn their third Asian title.

Saina Nehwal defeated Shixian Wang of China to enter the semifinals of Asian Badminton Championship

Wuhan: Saina Nehwal, Olympic bronze medallist, continued her consistent run in international circuit, reaching yet another semifinal at the Asian Badminton Championship

 here on Friday.

In a battle of long rallies, the 26-year-old Indian held her nerves in tricky situations to eke out a 21-16, 21-19 win over former world champion Shixian Wang of China in the women's singles quarterfinal that lasted 56 minutes.

The world No. 8 Indian, who had registered semifinal finishes in the Swiss Grand Prix Gold, India Super Series and Malaysia Super Series Premier Open before skipping the Singapore Open, will take on the winner of the match between Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and China's Yihan Wang.

Saina, who had lost the last two meetings with Wang, tried to be patient during the energy-sapping rallies but many times she failed to control the shuttle and lost point by hitting wide and long.

In the opening game, Saina lead 3-0 and held a narrow 11-10 advantage at the break but pocketed four straight points to reach 15-10. After a battle for supremacy, Wang narrowed it down to 16-17.

Saina soon grabbed the opening game after gaining a healthy four-point game point advantage and sealed it when Wang misjudged a shuttle and left that at the baseline.

In the second game, Saina once again created a 3-0 lead before Wang snapped it with a smash. Saina produced a cross court smash but hit long next. The Indian committed a series of unforced errors to allow Wang narrow the lead to 5-6.

After a fight, Wang clawed back after catching Saina at the forehand corner near the net and then Saina left one at the back to allow Wang lead 10-9. Saina pushed another one out as Wang lead 11-9 at the break.

The battle continued after the interval and at 11-15, Saina gained three points to make it 14-15. A good net exchange saw Saina draw parity to 16-16. They moved neck and neck till 19-19.

A net error by the Chinese then gave Saina the lead and with Wang hitting another return at the nets meant the Indian was celebrating.