text:
Badminton: India
(→Sindhu, Srikanth reach quarters)
|Line 473:
|Line 473:
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 14-21, 11-21against top seeds Siwei Zheng and Huang Yaqiong of China. Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy also could not get the better of sixth seeds Christinna Pedersen and Mathias Christiansen of Denmark and lost in straight games. In the men's doubles, Mannu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were overwhelmed by Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 9-21, 10-21.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 14-21, 11-21against top seeds Siwei Zheng and Huang Yaqiong of China. Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy also could not get the better of sixth seeds Christinna Pedersen and Mathias Christiansen of Denmark and lost in straight games. In the men's doubles, Mannu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were overwhelmed by Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 9-21, 10-21.
== Commonwealth Games==
== Commonwealth Games==
Revision as of 07:08, 7 October 2018
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.
Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly
The Times of India 2013/08/10
All England title 1980; Winner World Cup 1981; Commonwealth Games singles gold 1978; Bronze at World Championships 1983
Commonwealth Games singles gold 1982; Bronze at Delhi Asian Games
All England title 2001
Runner-up World Junior Championship 1996; French Open 1998; Silver at Commonwealth Games 1998
Bronze at London Olympics 2012; Gold at Commonwealth Games 2010; 17 major international titles
The Times of India, Aug 20 2016
Manne Ratnakar
Saina's trademark clam on court helps her deal with pesky opponents who try to rattle her with body smashes and stares. Sindhu, on her part, doesn't like body smashes and would get easily rattled and concede points. It's because of this that she tended to lose many matches from winning positions.
Saina, a proven champion, interestingly does not believe she is a natural stroke maker. She has herself admitted on a number of occasions that she lacked natural talent compared to some other players. Saina relies more on hard work and training and needs at least six to eight weeks to peak before a tournament.
Bronze at Commonwealth Games 2010
PV Sindhu
Bronze at World Badminton Championships, China, 2013
The Times of India, Aug 20 2016
Manne Ratnakar
PV Sindhu has seized the opportunity to unleash her electric prowess as a shuttler on the greatest stage of all, eventually becoming the first female sportsperson to win a silver for India.
Sindhu has numerous chinks in her defence but in 2016, she has worked hard on reducing the chinks. She looks solid in defence now and has sur prised many with her retrieving ability . Saina likes faster court conditions -when the shuttle is moving fast between the courts it will be advantage Saina. Sindhu prefers the opposite, she likes if the shuttle is slow. That is why in Asian conditions, where they use air conditioners, the shuttle moves well and Saina performs better. In Brazil, however, the shuttle moved slower and Sindhu was on a roll.
At the Olympics 2016, Sindhu has been a revelation. She was cool like a cucumber even in the gold medal match and hardly ever seemed annoyed throughout her memorable campaign.
Standing tall at 5'11", Sindhu likes to pack her shots with a lot of power. Saina, however, is a rally player who wears down the opponent and pounces on the mistakes of others.
International titles, victories
Asian Junior Championship
July 23, 2018: The Times of India
1965: Gautam Thakkar won the boys singles gold
2012: PV Sindhu was the first girl to achieve this honour.
2018: Lakshya Sen toppled top seed and reigning world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsaran to become the first Indian boy after 53 years to win the Asian Junior Championship, in Jakarta. The 16-year-old needed just 46 minutes to beat Kunlavut 21-19, 21-18 in the final.
Other medals
2009: Mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra/Prajakta Sawant claimed bronze.
2011: Sameer Verma won silver
2011: Sindhu clinched bronze.
2012: Sameer Verma won bronze.
2014:Watershed year
Dec 27 2014
Amit Kumar Das
It turned out to be a watershed year for Indian badminton as the home shuttlers clinched no less than eight individual titles and also broke new grounds in team championships, making India a dominant force at the international stage Saina Nehwal and K. Srikanth clinching titles at China Super Series Premier and P.V. Sindhu bagging five bronze, including a World Championship medal, besides the historic bronze medals at Uber Cup and Asian Games, were the highlights of the year in which Indian badminton achieved unprecedented success at the global platform. If Saina led the resurgence of Indian badminton in the last few years, the year also saw the emergence of younger stars, who made it a terrific season with the help of their stupen dous performance.
While Saina scooped three titles, Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap, Aravind Bhat, Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy -all laid their hands on the crown at least once in the year gone by.In fact, Saurabh Verma and P.C. Thulasi also won titles in the International challenge category.
It was yet again Saina who set things in motion with a victory at the India Grand Prix Gold, which finally broke her long title drought. The Indian ace added two more titles to her kitty, clinching the Australia Super Series at Sydney in June and China Super Series Premier at Fuzhou in November.
While Saina blew hot and cold, teen sensation Sindhu continued to make big strides in world badminton with her performance, which saw her reach the finals of India Grand Prix Gold first in Lucknow and then winning the bronze at the Asian Badminton Championship in Gimcheon.
In fact, Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Poppanna also made their presence felt by clinching the bronze in the same tournament in April.
Next month, India hosted the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cup Finals for the first time and Saina and Sindhu ensured that it turned out to be a memorable one as they shepherded the women's team to a historic bronze.
Sindhu had a golden chance of winning the Commonwealth Games women's singles title in July but the Indian had to settle for a bronze when she lost to Michelle Li of Canada.
2014: Shuttlers: Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu
The Times of India, Dec 31 2014
The fabulous feats of Indian shuttlers made 2014 the breakout year for Indian badminton. But no one could match the achievement of Kidambi Srikanth. Defying all predictions, the 21-year-old won the China Open Super Series, beating multiple World and Olympic champion Lin Dan in the final. He finished the year ranked No. 4 in the world. After a barren 2013, Saina Nehwal made an impressive comeback this year. She thrashed World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain to clinch the Australian Super Series and then grabbed the China Open, beating the Chinese on way to the final. PV Sindhu bagged bronze in Glasgow and helped the Indian team claim its first-ever Asiad and Uber Cup bronze.
Garaga, Rankireddy win Badminton Asia Championships boys doubles
The Times of India, October 12, 2015
The budding doubles duo of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy clinched boys doubles gold in the Badminton Asia Championships in Kudus, Indonesia Jayaram outclassed Raul Must of Indonesia in straight games 21-12, 21-18. Under-17 boys Krishna and Satwik, who train at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy , trounced Jun Hau Leong and Fong Hau Sim of Malaysia 21-16, 21-15 in straight games. Such was the domina tion of these Hyderabadi shuttlers that they did not even lose a single game in the entire tournament. Not only that, they were not even forced to save a game point. In 2014, KrishnaSatwik claimed bronze at this Continental meet.
October 2015: Srikanth climbs to fifth in rankings; Saina is second
The Times of India, Oct 30 2015
Srikanth climbs to fifth in rankings; Saina is second
Top Indian male shutler Kidambi Srikanth climbed up place to fifth, while Saina Nehwal remained static on No. 2 in the atest Badminton World Federa ion (BWF) rankings released on Thursday . Srikanth gained a spot n the men's singles ranking.
Manu-Sumeeth bag GP title in Mexico
The Times of India Dec 22 2015
Manne Ratnakar
Ending a five-year drought, the fast rising doubles combination of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy claimed their maiden Grand Prix crown with a 22-20, 21-18 victory over BodinIssara and NipitphonPuangpuapech of Thailand in the Mexico Open final on Sunday . The duo, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Academy here, faced a stiff resistance in the first game as the Thais saved four game points from 1620 before the Indians claimed it. In the second, the Indians got off to a brisk start and maintained a healthy lead over their rivals right throughout. After Olympians Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas won the Bitburger Open in 2010, this is the best ever performance by an Indian men's doubles team. "This is a great win for both of us.We've worked really hard and this is the result of our hard work. We would like to thank our coach Pullela Gopichand, doubles coach Kim Tan Her and BAI officials for supporting us. Many thanks to our parents, it's because of their prayers and blessings we are here," Manu told TOI from Mexico City on Monday . The players, who have been consistent this year, were close to clinching their first GP title twice before. They missed out winning the titles in US Grand Prix in June and Dutch Open in October despite dishing out some inspired performances in the initial rounds. "It turned out to be a good year for us. And finishing off with a title is amazing. We started confidently . It was a bit tricky in the final, it was all about speed and tactics,"Sumeeth said.
2016: Asia Championship
The Times of India, Feb 21 2016
Manne Ratnakar
Shuttlers lose in Asia C'ship semis
HS Prannoy , saviour of the hosts for the last two days, could not repeat the magic as his team bowed out of the tie much before his arrival, losing 1-3 to Indonesia in the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium. With this loss Indian men bagged the bronze medal, their first in last three decades.
Though Kidambi Srikanth gave a solid start to his team, the hosts lost the next three ties and crashed out of the tournament. After winning the first game without much difficulty against in form Tommy Sugiarto, Srikanth was unlucky to lose the closely-fought second game. However, the top ranked Indian shifted gears in the decider and played an attacking game to oust Tommy 21-14, 23-25, 21-9.
Doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy proved no match for Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-11, 2110. In the second singles, world No.25 Ajay Jayaram tried hard before going down to Anthony Ginting 15-21, 20-22.
2016: Uber Cup
The Times of India, May 20, 2016
Quarterfinals When the top gun, misfired youngster RuthvikaShivani came to the rescue with a stupendous display to assure her team of a bronze with a 3-1 victory against Thailand in the Uber Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.
This will be only the second medal for India at this prestigious team event. Indian women had won bronze at the last edition.
For a long time, Saina Nehwal had carried Indian hopes. But the off-colour Hyderabadi faltered on the day to give India a poor start. PV Sindhu, however, stepped up and put the campaign back on rails with a dominant 21-18, 21-7 victory against Busanan Ongbumrungphan.
JwalaGutta and Ashwini Ponnappa made it 2-1for with a 21-19, 21-12 win against PuttitaSupajirakul and SapsireeTaerattanachai.
Ruthvika then proved her mettle. No one expected her to get past a tough opponent like NitchaonJindapol, the world No.25 who has been giving top shuttlers a tough time. She had even defeated PV Sindhu in January this year.Ruthvika came up with a stunning show and registered a 21-18, 21-16 victory . Leading 20-10, Ruthvika conceded eight points before winning the first game at 21-18.
The best players
TOISA 2018 NOMINEES: BADMINTON, January 25, 2018: The Times of India
KIDAMBI SRIKANTH (World No. 3 )
Building on the promise shown during his run to the quarterfinals of the men's singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Srikanth made it large last year. He won four Superseries titles in 2017, the most ever by an Indian, and moved to No. 2 in the BWF men's singles rankings. Srikanth's first title was the Indonesia Open, where he beat Japan's
PV SINDHU (World No. 3)
After claiming a breakthrough silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sindhu lived up to her billing as the queen of Indian badminton this year by winning two Superseries titles, a silver medal at the Badminton World Championships and another at the BWF World Superseries Finals. Her first Superseries win came in April, when she beat Olympic champion Carolina Marin 21-19, 21-16 to win the India Open for the first time. Days later, she rose to a careerhigh No 2 in the BWF women's singles rankings. After claiming a silver medal at the Badminton World Championships, only India's second ever, Sindhu went on to win her second Superseries in October Kazumasa Sakai 21-11, 21-19, and a week later he vanquished the world and Olympic champion Chen Long in straight games 22-20, 21-16 to claim the Australia Open. Later, Srikanth became the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the Denmark Open and then created history by claiming the French Open. In addition, Srikanth also reached the final of the Singapore Open.
when she became the first Indian to win the Korea Open. Her other title was the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold. Other close finishes came in the final of the National Badminton Championship and the Hong Kong Superseries, where she was runner-up both times.
SAINA NEHWAL (World No. 10)
A successful, injuryfree year for the 2012 London Olympics medalist. Saina won a Grand Prix Gold, a bronze at the World Championships and her third national title. Won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix - her 23rd title overall. Won a bronze medal at the Badminton World Championships having reached her recordbreaking seventh consecutive quarterfinal. Beat Olympic gold medal winner and two-time world champion Carolina Marin 22-20, 21-18 in round one of the Denmark Open.
HS PRANNOY (World No. 10)
His most successful year ever, Prannoy won a Grand Prix Gold, reached the semifinals of two Super Series and won the national title for the first time. Claimed his third Grand Prix Gold title by beating compatriot Parupalli Kashyap 21-15, 20-22, 21-12 in the final of the US Open.
Reached the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series and the French Open. Became the first Indian to beat the big four of world badminton: Taufik Hidayat (2013), Lin Dan (2015), Chong Wei (twice in 2017) and Chen Long (2017). Achieved a career-best position of No. 10.
B SAI PRANEETH (World No. 16)
Having never made it past the quarters of a Super Series of a Grand Prix Gold tournament, Sai beat Kidambi Srikanth in the final of the Singapore Open. In this tournament, he also beat Denmark's Emil Holst, world No. 23 Qiao Bin, eighth seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk and Korea's Lee Dong Keun to meet Srikanth in the first all-Indian Super Series final. Won his second title of the year in June, beating Indonesia's Christie Jonatan 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 to clinch the $120,000 Thailand Open. Runnerup at the Syed Modi Grand Prix.
A watershed year
Action Replay 2017: BADMINTON, December 28, 2017: The Times of India
2017 Was A Watershed Year For Indian Badminton As Players Broke New Ground, Writes M Ratnakar
If Saina Nehwal's hat-trick of titles in 2010 was the catalyst which propelled Indian badminton to a different plane, 2017 has proved to be a watershed year for the sport as Kidambi Srikanth led the boys' victory parade with four Super Series titles in a calendar year. Since 2010, the sport has witnessed a spiralling success rate every year. The Olympic medal came in 2012 with Saina's bronze and a podium finish at the World Championships became a regular feature thereafter.
Sindhu's Olympic silver at the 2016 Olympic Games catapulted the game to new heights of popularity.
However, 2017 has seen greater performances from the Indian shuttlers as 13 major titles have been won by seven different players, apart from PV Sindhu's silver and Saina's bronze at the World Championships. Sindhu's one hour 50-minute marathon against Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the Worlds final will go down in history as an epic encounter.
Never in the past had so many Indian players figured among the winners' circle. Until 2017, the success stories have been confined to Saina, Sindhu and Srikanth but this year 'so-called fringe players' like SAI Praneeth, Sameer Verma, HS Prannoy and even doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and Sikki Reddy have ensured that the Indian flag flutters with pride at various international events. For a change the boys have leapt past the girls and cornered more glory in 2017. Sindhu won two Super Series titles —India Open and Korea Open — and capped the year with a silver at the year-end Finals in Dubai.
But the year belonged to Srikanth and Co, who have virtually dominated the men's singles with élan. The Indian boys were everywhere in 2017, winning titles, stunning champions and dominating the men's singles category. Sameer Verma started it by trumping SAI Praneeth at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold final in January. Thereafter, SAI Praneeth took charge by pocketing his first Super Series at the Singapore Open in April. Interestingly, here too, Praneeth's opponent was none other than Srikanth.
Praneeth also clinched the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold in June. A fortnight later Srikanth triumphed in the Indonesia Open, the richest Premier event of the year. The 24-year-old went on to clinch back-toback titles, a first in his career, by emerging victorious at the Australian Open Super Series the very next week.
While Indian fans were busy celebrating the unexpected success of their boys, experts have observed a fascinating trend behind these stupendous performances. The Hyderabad boys have been assisting each other in the victories as if they have learnt the art of 'hunting in packs'.
At the Indonesian Open, HS Prannoy had stunned Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei and Olympic champion Chen Long to clear the path for his training partner Srikanth. Later, Prannoy said that he took tips from seasoned campaigner Parupalli Kashyap on how to beat the Chinese superstar. Prannoy lost to Kazumasa Sakai in the semifinals but passed on some key information to Srikanth, who defeated the Japanese shuttler in the final.
Even at the Denmark Open in October, Prannoy helped Srikanth by ousting Lee Chong Wei in the second round itself. With easier opponents to negotiate at the latter stages, Srikanth claimed his third Super Series title by defeating Korean veteran Lee Hyun Il in the final. The next week at the French Open, Prannoy ousted Lee Hyun in the first round before going down to Srikanth in a keenly-contested semifinal. By claiming top honours in Paris, Srikanth became the fifth shuttler in badminton history to win four Super Series titles in a calendar year. Incidentally, these were also Srikanth's second back-to-back titles.
It is no secret that the dexterous efforts of Pullela Gopichand is behind their success and the newfound vigour. All these players hail from his academy and have been with him since their childhood.
About five years back, when Saina and Sindhu were making all the headlines, Gopichand had predicted that the boys too will replicate the girls' success stories soon. But very few took him seriously at that time. However, once Srikanth burst on the scene with a sensational mauling of Lin Dan in the China Open finals in 2014, people began to notice that the boys were coming to the party.
The coach, who is building Indian badminton brick-by-brick, has immense faith in the abilities of his players and is always confident about breaching the difficult barriers. "In my playing days many used to tell us that we can never reach the level of the Chinese. But I always believed that if we have the facilities in place we can achieve a lot. I am only putting a system in place and I am not surprised with these results," Gopichand said.
Gopichand changed the landscape of badminton but the Dronacharya awardee is yearning for more. He has a few budding shuttlers who are aspiring to follow the footsteps of their illustrious seniors.
But despite these fabulous feats, the bigger trophies like Olympic gold, World Championships crown and All England are missing from the cupboard.The only way the forthcoming years can beat the success of 2017 is if the shuttlers bring these elusive trophies home.
The main stars
M Ratnakar, Smashing success: India ruled the courts, December 28, 2017: The Times of India
It wasn't just all about Srikanth and Sindhu. Prannoy and Praneeth made heads turn too
—M Ratnakar
Popularising the whiplash smash and reinventing the aggressive style of badminton, Kidambi Srikanth made 2017 the best ever for Indian men. Of the seven Super Series titles India won, Srikanth bagged four. In the first quarter of the year, Srikanth did not do much as was he was recovering from his injuries. But in April he struck form. He lost to Sai Praneeth in the Singapore Super Series final and went on to win back-to-back Super Series titles in Indonesia and Australia. Though he had a disappointing World Championships, he was on a roll in October, once again claiming back-to-back titles in Denmark and France. With these amazing triumphs, Srikanth became only the fifth shuttler in the world to wear four Super Series crowns in a calendar year.
Even though she did not win many titles, Saina Nehwal still made her presence felt in 2017. The seasoned campaigner won only one title — the Malaysia Masters — in the last 12 months apart from the bronze at the Worlds, her second successive medal at BWF's biggest event. However, her crowning glory was the straight-game victory over PV Sindhu in the National Championship final. The ace shuttler, who returned to the Gopichand camp in August after a three-year hiatus, will be keen to win a few more titles with the help of the Dronacharya awardee.
The supremely talented shuttler lived up to the expectations with two major titles. He started the year by reaching the final of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold tournament. But the biggest victory of his career came in April when he beat title favourite Srikanth in the final to win the Singapore Open Super Series. He also won the Thailand Grand Prix Gold title in June.
If there was one shuttler who lady luck did not oblige this year, it has to be HS Prannoy. The Kerala shuttler, who is regarded as one of the most deadliest attackers on the circuit, could have won at least two Super Series titles this year. He beat the best in the world, but fortune deserted him at crucial moments. Though he stunned Olympic champ Chen Long and Malaysian great World No.1 Lee Chong Wei, he failed to convert such major victories into titles. However, he helped his friend Srikanth by mowing down these tough nuts. He ended the year with a dominant victory against Srikanth in the National badminton final.
June: The rise of Srikanth, Praneeth, Prannoy
Manne Ratnakar, June 27, 2017: The Times of India
Having played second fiddle to Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu for long, India's male shuttlers, led by K Srikanth, have suddenly created big buzz with several stunning international triumphs recently. TOI looks at the phenomenon...
`Hunting in packs' is the new mantra in Indian men's badminton. The exploits of Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy have catapulted Indian badminton to a new high as a group of Indian men have begun dominating men's singles as never before. Led by Srikanth, they have achieved a rare Super Series hat-trick besides notching up title wins in four of the last five big international tournaments.While Srikanth won the Indonesia and Australia Open Super Series titles, Sai bagged the Singapore Super Series and Thailand Grand Prix Gold crowns.
The support cast too has played a key role in the number of titles won by the Indians. Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap may not have won titles but they had helped their friends by clear ing their path. In Jakarta, Prannoy knocked out the legendary Lee Chong Wei and Olympic champion Chen Long, thereby letting Srikanth negotiate an easier opponent in the final.
In Australia, Kashyap shut out Indonesia Open finalist Kazumasa Sakai at the qualifying stage itself.
The sterling performance of the Indian boys in the last two months have made them one of the most feared gang of shuttlers in the world arena. Interestingly, most of them are in the 22-24 years age group, making them bright prospects for marquee international events which are coming up -like the Olympic and World Championships.
What makes the scenario even more heartening is that besides these four, there are other talented shuttlers like Ajay Jayaram, Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma who have been keeping the Indian flag flying.
Undoubtedly, this is the best phase ever in men's singles for India. Earlier, success in this sphere was limited to Prakash Padukone (All England title in 1980) and Pullela Gopichand (All England title in 2001).
After the two major titles _ which were separated by more than two decades _ the best feats were Kashyap win ning the Commonwealth Games Gold and Srikanth clinching the China Open Super Series Premier in 2014. Srikanth added the Indian Open Super Series crown in 2015 while the likes of Jayaram and Sai Praneeth claimed Grand Prix Gold titles. But the major push came in last two months.
Gone are the days when Indians struggled to clear the qualifying stage and breaking into the top-50 was celebrated as a major feat. Our men are in the elite league now. It has taken years of hard work, sweat, sacrifice and a lot of planning to bring about this transformation. A lot of credit for this turn around has to go to National coach Gopichand.
As a player, he faced a series of difficulties, got injured often, found no proper system but still achieved success.Once his career ended, he was determined to build a system. "There was never a dearth of talent in our country .Even during my time we had extremely talented players like Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhatt, Nikhil Kanetkar. But what I realised was that all were crafty but lacked fitness, strength, speed and endurance. To get these things we needed to create a group of people around a player. In our days we never had a proper coaching system, no concept of having a physio, nothing like that. These are the basic necessities and thankfully we have created them now," Gopichand said.
Gopichand also realised that the thought process of Indian shuttlers needed to change. "I always used to think different from others. In those days we were told to pick and play small tournaments, win some and improve the rankings. I thought it was wrong. So, I started making Saina (Nehwal) play in Super Series events. We need to believe in ourselves, think big and do what it requires to reach there," Gopi said.
Though Gopi achieved success with the girls _ Saina and PV Sindhu _ it took a while for him to replicate it in men's singles. "Success in women was achieved fast because I got two strong girls in Saina and Sindhu. But it took time for me to build that strength and fitness in men. Another area I succeeded in was converting the success at the junior level to senior stage. I also got an excellent support staff," Gopi said.
India have as many as six men in the top-35 of world rankings at present. It's a promising position and if the players keep improving, India can become a global power.
With the longevity of shuttlers increasing due to modern training methods, Srikanth & Co will be around for at least another five years during which time they can take Indian badminton to a higher plane. With talented youngsters like Lakshya Sen and Siril Verma waiting in the wings, the future seems to hold exciting prospects for India.
June: The male stars
Jun 27 2017: The Times of India
KIDAMBI SRIKANTH (24, ranking 11)
The form man of world badminton right now, Srikanth has risen fast to become the poster boy of men's badminton in India. He is expected to be ranked around 5 in the world when the fresh list is announced on Thursday.
PARUPALLI KASHYAP (30, ranking 116)
He has been the guiding light to all the men's singles shuttlers. His victories at the international level, particularly the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold, gave confidence to others like Srikanth, Prannoy and Sai Praneeth. He was also the first Indian man to reach the Olympic quarterfinals. Kashyap has been fighting injuries in the last two years but is now back on court.
HS PRANNOY (24, ranking 21)
HS Prannoy, who trains at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, has always been regarded as a very talented shuttler. His big break was the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title last year.He also created a splash by stunning Olympic gold medallist Cheng Long and silver medallist Lee Chong Wei at the recently Indonesia Open.
AJAY JAYARAM (29, ranking 15)
Till recently, Ajay Jayaram was the top-ranked Indian men's singles shuttler. Unlucky to miss the London Olympics berth by a whisker, Jayaram won the Dutch Open Grand Prix Gold twice -2014 and 2015. He missed a Dutch hat-trick when he lost in the final last year. Jayaram, who trains under Tom John, also reached the finals of the Korea Open Super Series in 2015.
SAI PRANEETH (24, ranking 16)
His Singapore Open triumph made him only the second Indian after Srikanth to clinch a Super Series title. He made it two titles in a row by claiming the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold as well. The crafty player is expected to pose a major threat to the top shuttlers in the world.
SAMEER VERMA (22, ranking 32)
The younger of the Verma brothers, Sameer's best show so far was reaching the final of the Hong Kong Open Super Series in November 2016. The 22-year-old is a hard-working shuttler who defeated Sai Praneeth to win the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold title in January this year. His elder brother, Sourabh Verma, who is 24, is ranked 35th in the world and is yet another player to watch out for.
August: World Championship, Glasgow
Aug 28 2017: The Times of India
In a first, two Indians finished on the podium. Sindhu -who had earlier won bronze medals at the 2013 and 2014 World Championships -won the silver and Saina a bronze.
September: Five Indian men in top-20
Five Indian men shuttlers in top-20, Sep 29 2017:: The Times of India
Five Indians find themselves in the top-20 of the BWF men's singles rankings with H S Prannoy being the biggest gainer after his quarterfinal showing at the Japan Open. Prannoy has jumped four places to be world no 15 while Kidambi Srikanth, who too lost in the quarterfinals in Japan, remains the highest-ranked Indian male player at eighth. Ajay Jayaram remains at the 20th spot while B Sai Praneeth too has not moved from his position of 17th. Sameer Verma has gained a couple of places to the 19th.
November: Sindhu, Srikanth both world's No. 2
Manne Ratnakar, Double joy: Sindhu and Srikanth ranked No. 2, November 7, 2017: The Times of India
The rise and rise of the Indian shuttlers has been awe inspiring.
Four Super Series title triumphs catapulted Kidambi Srikanth to world No.2. It's a new high for Indian badminton as two shuttlers are currently ranked No.2 in the world, a feat accomplished for the first time.While PV Sindhu reached there a few weeks back, Srikanth joined her.
Until 2016, the script involved the success stories of Saina Nehwal and Sindhu. Saina's title-winning spree made it look difficult for others to emulate her till Sindhu started winning medals on a bigger stage. Inspired by the girls, the boys took charge in 2017 and collected more than half a dozen titles.
Srikanth may even become No.1 very soon.
The efforts of coach Pullela Gopichand are responsible for the badminton revolution in the country . But the Dronacharya insisted that the success story is a culmination of a lot of things. "It is a culmination of a lot of things. Each and everybody's contribution is very important. Be it the Sports Authority of India (SAI), government, sponsors, coaches and also senior players like Saina and Kashyap," Gopichand said.
Saina and Kashyap made others believe that success at highest level could be achieved.
November: Prannoy, Saina win national titles
Suhas Nayse, Sizzling Saina surprises Sindhu, November 9, 2017: The Times of India
See also:
Achievements, Men's singles, Women's singles, Men's doubles, Women's doubles, Mixed doubles, 2017
Women's singles final and Men's singles final, some facts, 2017
Back With Coach Gopi, Nehwal Claims Third National Title; Prannoy Shocks Srikanth For Maiden Crown
Form and rankings went for a toss as Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy stunned hot favourites PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth to emerge champions in the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championship.
The packed stadium with around ten thousand spectators at the Divisional Sports Complex witnessed some spectacular badminton from the country's premier shuttlers which kept them on the edge of their seats till the last point of the week-long tournament.
The dream summit clash between Saina and Sindhu lived up to expectations with both the players slugging it out for each point resulting in long and pulsating rallies.
Saina, seeded second, proved a point or two to her detractors by upsetting top seed Sindhu 21-17, 27-25 in 54 minutes to clinch her third title. The 27-year-old thus maintained her perfect record in the Nationals with three titles in as many appearances.
Incidentally , she marked her comeback to the Nationals after a gap of almost ten years with the crown. As a teenager, she had triumphed at Goa in 2008 where she had defended the title she had won for the first time at Patna in 2007.
Saina was fully fired up while taking on Sindhu as she made swift movements to jump to a comfortable lead in the first game. Besides excellent court coverage, the world No. 11 executed several bodyline smashes which Sindhu found too hot to handle. Sindhu reduced the deficit in the end but could not stop Saina pocketing the first game at 21-17.
Stunned by the reversal, Sindhu bounced back gallantly in the second game. Although the scores were al most equal at the start, Sindhu surged ahead by three points and looked set to restore the parity.
However, Saina was in no mood to let it go. She fought back like a true fighter and saved a couple of game points to stop Sindhu. Sindhu too was equally determined to take the match into the decider. After six deuces, Saina finally managed to convert her sixth match point.
At 26-25, both the players were engaged in another long rally , keeping the entire crowd breathless. After around twenty strokes, Sindhu fai led to return one of Saina's sharp half-shashes and hit the shuttle in the net as Saina punched the air in jubilation.
Saina thanked her support staff and coach Pullela Gopichand for the turnaround in her fortunes. "I am surprised with the way I played today .I moved well and picked Sindhu's difficult shots. It was a great match and I am glad that I could finish it off in two games. I would like to thank all the support staff and Gopi Sir for working hard on me in the last couple of months," an elated Saina told TOI af ter the final.
Earlier, the men's singles final bet ween Srikanth and Prannoy also saw a big upset. Second seeded Prannoy edged out top seed and world No. 2 Sri e kanth 21-15, 16-21, 21-7 in a battle which lasted 50 minutes. It was a special mo . ment for Prannoy as he had never won any National title in any age group.I Prannoy celebrated his first entry o into the final in style by overcoming e the stiff challenge from his regular practice partner. The Kerala youngs ter also avenged his defeat to Srikanth in the semifinal of the French Open Super Series a few days back.
Ashwini Ponnappa bagged a double crown by claiming women's doubles and mixed doubles titles. Top seeds Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy stopped the giant-killing run of unseeded Maharashtra pair of Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant in the women's doubles final.
In the mixed doubles final, Ashwini teamed up with teenager Satiwik Sai Raj to annex the mixed doubles final. The new combination shocked top seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra-N Sikki Reddy 21-9, 20-22, 21-17.
November: China Open: loses singles quarterfinal
Suhas Nayse, Defending champ Sindhu stunned, November 18, 2017: The Times of India
Defending champion PV Sindhu found Chinese teenager Fangjie Gao too hot to handle and bowed out of the China Open Super Series Premier badminton in Fuzhou on Friday.
Nineteen-year-old Gao shattered the hopes of Sindhu with a clinical 21-11, 21-10 win in a one-sided women's singles quarterfinal. Throughout the 38-minute encounter, Sindhu never looked in control and was completely surprised by the qualifier ranked 89th in the world.
Aiming to defend the title, Sindhu's bid was foiled by an inspired local girl, regarded as one of the most promising shuttlers in China after the era of three Wangs and Olympic champion Li Xuerui.
November: Lost in Hong kong Super Series
November 26, 2017: The Times of India
PV Sindhu's gallant fight ended in agony as she suffered a second successive loss to world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei at the summit clash of the $400,000 Hong Kong Super Series.
Playing her fifth straight tournament, Sindhu, who had a 3-7 head-to-head record against Tai before the match, never lacked in fitness and fought throughout the match before going down 18-21 18-21 to the defending champion in a 44-minute women's singles final.
This is Sindhu's second loss in the four finals that she reached this season. She had lost to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara at the World Championship final, while clinched two titles at India and Korea this year. In the opening game which lasted 21 minutes, Tai moved to a 3-0 lead early on before Sindhu made a good judgement at the baseline to log the first points. However, Tai unleashed her wide repertoire of strokes and varied the pace well to lead 7 -2.
Sindhu then started to dominate the rallies by using her deep clears and drew the Taiwanese close to the net. She used her reach to catch the shuttle early and placed it in difficult positions to narrow the deficit to 6-7.
A deceptive net return gave Tai a point. The Taiwanese then produced a smash on the deep backhand corner of Sindhu and moved to 10-7. Sindhu unleashed a body smash to perfection before Tai's flat straight return bamboozled the Indian.
At the break, the Taiwan had a three point advantage.
After the breather ,Tai committed a couple of unforced errors at both the flanks, while Sindhu came up with a backhand return near the net to reduce the margin to 10-13 but Tai quickly recovered to extend her domination to 16-13.
Sindhu tried to anticipate her deceptive rival and put Tai in awkward positions a few times, but she hit long or at the net to allow the Taiwanese lead 18-14. A gritty Sindhu, however, kept breathing down her neck and soon clawed back at 18-18.
During the next rally, the string of the Sindhu's racquet broke and Tai unleashed a smash which left the Indian frustrated. Tai produced another smash on Sindhu backhand to move to game point. She then grabbed the opening game after winning a video referral when her shuttle landed on the line.
In the second game, Sindhu was left to deal with some indecision due to the sidewise drift which gave early advantage to Tai but the gritty Indian levelled the score at 4-4 with a superb return at her rival's forehand.
The duo moved to 7-7 before Tai hit wide and lost a referral too.
Sindhu produced a overhead backhand flick, a deceptive return at the forecourt and another smash to move to 10-7 before entering the lemon break with a two-point advantage when Tai found the net. However, Tai dominated the proceedings after the interval, despite a fighting Sindhu trying to snap at her heels.
The Indian lost a referral and then failed to retrieve a shot at the forecourt as Tai led 12-11.
At 13-12, Sindhu was not allowed a video referral by the line judge and after that the match slipped away from the Indian even as Tai produced a stroke on Sindhu's forehand to perfection. With the Indian failing to finish the rallies, it allowed Tai to lead 17-12.
Another weak return by Sindhu and Tai was leading 18-12. The Indian produced a cross court smash to break the rhythm, but she again hit long. Tai faltered at the net and then miscued a lift from the front court. She then hit long as Sindhu conjured up hopes of a turn around, moving to 16-19.
However, a long rally ensued which ended with Sindhu's lift going long and Tai earned the match point at 20-16. Sindhu saved two match points before a perfect drop shot from Tai sealed the title for the Chinese Taipei shuttler.
2017, Dec. rankings
Srikanth fourth in rankings, December 8, 2017: The Times of India
Kidambi Srikanth improved a rung to be at the 4th position, while promising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen entered the World top 100 after jumping 19 places to reach the 89th spot in the latest BWF ranking.HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth were static at the 10th place and 17th spots respectively. In women's singles, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal retained their third and 10th places respectively.
China Open
Srikanth advances; Prannoy bows out
Suhas Nayse, Satwiksairaj-Ashwini Pair Moves Up, September 21, 2018: The Times of India
A day after Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy knocked out world No. 13 Chinese Taipei pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa stunned world No. 12 pair of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith of England in the China Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament in Changzhou.
Reigning national mixed doubles champions Satwiksairaj and Ashwini overcame a mid-match slump to edge out Commonwealth Games silver medallists Ellis and Smith 21-13, 20-22, 21-17.
Kidambi Srikanth overcame a late fightback from Rasmus Gemke to post a 21-9, 21-19 win in the men's singles first round. In a first match between the two players, seventh seed Srikanth ousted Denmark's Gemke, ranked 23 in the world, with brilliant display.
The 2014 champion will now lock horns with Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand for a spot in the quarters. The Thai player is world No. 28 and Srikanth has a perfect 2-0 record against him. But they havent's faced each other since 2013 Malaysia GP Gold.
Srikanth's practice partner HS Prannoy failed to clear the first round hurdle. The national champion lost to eighth seed Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 16-21, 12-21.
In a big upset, Gao Fangjie of China upset world No. 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 21-16 in 37 minutes.
INDIAN RESULTS (Round 1) Men's singles: 7-Kidambi Srikanth bt Rasmus Gemke (Denmark) 21-9, 21-19; HS Prannoy lost to 8-Ng Ka Long Angus (Hong Kong) 16-21, 12-21; Men's doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty lost to Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Malaysia) 19-21, 20-22; Women's doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy lost to Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong (Korea) 10-21, 18-21; Mixed doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa bt Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith (England) 21-13, 20-22, 21-17.
Sindhu, Srikanth reach quarters
Suhas Nayse, September 21, 2018: The Times of India
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth survived scares against their respective opponents — both from Thailand — to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open in Changzhou on Thursday.
Third seed Sindhu rallied against Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-23, 21-13, 21-18 in a marathon match which lasted for an hour and nine minutes. Sindhu went in as the favourite, with a 8-0 head-tohead record against the 22-year-old. However, Busanan came up with a much-improved display to test the Indian.
In the men's singles second round, Srikanth came from a match-point down to pip Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-12, 15-21, 24-22 in 63 minutes.
After promising a lot in the last couple of days, India's doubles campaign came to an end in the pre-quarters.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 14-21, 11-21against top seeds Siwei Zheng and Huang Yaqiong of China. Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy also could not get the better of sixth seeds Christinna Pedersen and Mathias Christiansen of Denmark and lost in straight games. In the men's doubles, Mannu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were overwhelmed by Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 9-21, 10-21.
Sindhu, Srikanth lose in quarters
Suhas Nayse, September 22, 2018: The Times of India
Indian challenge in China Open Badminton tournament came to an end with the defeats of PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth at Changzhou on Friday. Third seed Sindhu went down fighting against Chen Yufei of China 11-21, 21-11, 15-21 in 52 minutes. The fifth seed Chinese shattered the hopes of the Indian with a commanding performance.
The 2016 champion Sindhu had a psychological advantage going into the match against the local girl as she was leading 4-2 in terms of head-to-head record. Sindhu had also won the last two encounters against the Chinese but on Friday she failed to extend her dominance and crashed out.
In the deciding third game, Yufei established an early lead and maintained it till the end. The only survivor in the men's singles Srikanth also bowed out. The seventh seed found third seed Kento Momota too hot to handle and lost 9-21, 11-21 in 28 minutes.
The in-form Japanese made the light work of former world No. 1 and stormed into the semifinals in style. The last week champion at the Japan Open look set to pocket yet another title in the dream season. With this crushing win, Momota now improved his career record against Srikanth to 8-3. It was second quarterfinal defeat for Srikanth in as many weeks.
Indian coach Amrish Shinde was disappointed with the result but admitted that Sindhu fought gallantly.
Commonwealth Games
Biju BabuCyriac, Displaying Her Trademark Grit, A Resurgent Nehwal Downs Sindhu For A Famous Triumph, April 16, 2018: The Times of India
One is the pathbreaker in the sport in India. The other, the opponent, is the new sensation. And when the two clashed in the final of women's badminton at the Commonwealth Games here, spectators the world over got nearly an hour of exhilarating edge-ofthe-seat action. Former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal gave a master-class of attacking badminton to win India's 26th gold, beating teammate and Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu on the final day at the Games here on Sunday.
It was one of India's bestever showing in a Games abroad — 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze, across nine disciplines. And fittingly, India's final gold came from the pioneering shuttler Saina, who beat Sindhu in 21-18, 23-21 in the final. The 56-minute blockbuster got the fans on the edge of their seats at the Carrara Sports Arena as the two of the world's best players traded rallies — the best being a 64-stroke heart-stopper in the second game — and fought tooth and nail for each point.
It was a clash of contrasting styles. Saina, who opened the proceedings, took a 6-4 lead in the first game forcing the point with a superb crosscourt drop after dictating terms in a long rally. Soon she was stretching her lead to 12-6 but an agitated Sindhu pulled the next three points back to narrow the gap to 9-12.
Saina, appearing more agile now after having shed some weight during her preparations for Gold Coast, then forced an error from Sindhu at the net but the lanky Hyderabadi returned the compliment to stay in the hunt at 11-16. Even as Sindhu tried to wriggle out of the corner, Saina moved ahead to 20-14 and set up six game points. Sindhu now found a different gear to race up with her experienced teammate saving four game points, but Saina was only waiting for her chance and pulled the trigger smashing the winner to an open court to take the first game at 21-18.
The start of the second game saw Saina drifting a bit and Sindhu did the needful to stretch her lead to 9-6 following a 39-stroke rally which Saina netted. A mix of Sindhu's class and Saina's errors helped her pull away to 15-10, but the latter was in no mood to let the momentum shift. She came up with series of powerful smashes that Sindhu couldn't return.
At 14-15, Saina appeared to have the match under control, but Sindhu, who recovered from a minor injury, was in no mood to go down without a fight as she ran up to an 18-14 lead and then took it to 19-16. But Saina was not to let her attacking ways go and won a draining 64-shot rally, it lasted all of 68 seconds, before going level at 19-19.
Sindhu then served on game point but it was soon 20-20. Next it was Sindhu's turn to save a match point but it was all over soon with Saina smashing away to victory getting past of the best of retrievals from Sindhu. It was an epic clash and in the end, her experience and a seemingly newfound ability from Saina came to fore announcing that a change of guard at the top will still take some time.
Srikanth ends second best
World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth was forced to settle for silver after losing a riveting match in the men's singles final to Malaysian Lee Chong Wei 21-19, 14-21, 14-21.
Chong Wei raced to a 5-0 lead in the opener but Srikanth, who beat the Malaysian in the team event here, caught up with the 36-year-old three-time Olympic silver medalist at 7-7. The next seven points saw an array of superb strokes from both the players. The two were again level at 15-15, 17-17 and 19-19 but Srikanth kept his nose in front finding vacant spots on the court. In the end, it was Srikanth who took the game at 21-19.
The second game, which saw a 42-stroke rally, began in the same fashion with both the players going for the deceptive angles and net flicks in addition to the power hitting. It was all even till the break at 11 but Chong Wei soon opened up a lead. The Malaysian opened up a big lead again in the third as Srikanth got buried under his errors. Chong Wei was up 7-1 in no time and from then on Srikanth had a hard time catching up.
India Open: PV Sindhu, sixth loss in a final since Olympics
Saumyajit Basu, Sindhu slips in the final, February 5, 2018: The Times of India
Zhang Is The New Champion; Shi Yuqi Claims Men's Crown
In the end, a Chinese and an American of Chinese descent swept the honours on the final day.
After Shi Yuqi won the men's singles title to become the first Chinese to do so in the India Open, Beiwan Zhang taught PV Sindhu such a bitter lesson that she refused to attend the customary aftermatch press meet on Sunday evening. For Sindhu, it was her sixth loss in a final since her Olympic silver, to go with two title wins.
Sindhu kept hopes alive till the very end but Zhang looked destined to write a beautiful story of her own. Having already scalped Saina Nehwal on Friday, she upstaged Sindhu 21-18, 11-21, 22-20 to win her first Tour title to fulfil a longcherished dream.
"I wanted to win a tour title this year," the world No. 11 had said after her quarterfinal victory over Saina. That she could tilt the tightly-fought final game on Sunday her way, is something she would savour for long. "It is the best moment of my career," the 27-old Zhang said after matching the world No. 4 point for point.
"I used the smash more than usual to quell Sindhu, who seemed to be under a lot of pressure. She was playing in front of the home crowd. I had nothing to lose," said a beaming Zhang, before rushing off to catch the earliest flight out.
While the fifth seeded Zhang pocketed $26,250 and 9200 ranking points for her effort, Sindhu had to be content with $13,300 and 7800 ranking points.
Unlike Zhang, Shi Yuqi used the smash with rare precision to undo Chou Tien's challenge. What Lin Dan couldn't achieve in his few attempts, Yuqi did it in his first. "I am not a big fan of Super Dan," said the champion moments after he calmly decimated Chou Tien Chen 21-18, 21-14. Even trailing till 17 in the first game, the 21-year old Chinese never looked ill at ease. Armed with an intelligent all-court game programmed by anticipation, Yuqi even returned Chou Tien's supposed winners, much to the frustration of the Chinese Taipei player. He clocked four points on the bounce to reach game point and logged home the first with a lot of confidence.
In the second, however, Yuki didn't let Chou Tien nose ahead. Consummately in control and using the smash only when absolutely sure of it being a winner, Yuki showed that his second singles title, after the French Open in 2016, was just a dawn of a shining day ahead. "He is sure to make the China's Thomas Cup team," said an official accompanying the China team.
RESULTS (ALL FINALS) — Men's singles 4-Shi Yuqi bt 3-Chou Tien Chen 21-18, 21-14 ; Women's singles 5-Beiwen Zhang bt 1-PV Sindhu 21-18, 11-21, 22-20; Men's doubles: 1-Marcus Gideon/ Kevin Sanjaya bt 4-Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-14, 21-16; Women's doubles: 3-Greysia Polii/ Apriyani Rahayu bt 2-Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai 21-18, 21-15; Mixed doubles: 5-Mathias Christiansen/ Christinna Pedersen bt Praveen Jordan/ Melati Daeva Oktavianti 21-14, 21-15.
Indonesia Open BWF
Manne Ratnakar, Sindhu, Prannoy bow out as Indian challenge ends, July 7, 2018: The Times of India
PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy bowed out in the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament in Jakarta. With the exit of these two shuttlers, the Indian challenge ended in the $1.25 million tournament. Sindhu lost to China's He Bingjiao 21-14, 21-15 and Shi Yuqi defeated Prannoy 21-17, 21-18.
Prannoy failed to win the big points towards the end of both games. At 18-18 in the second he committed unforced errors and surrendered the advantage to his Chinese rival. Sindhu failed to find her range even as Bingjiao controlled the game. The Indian kept pace with her rival till 10-10, thereafter it was Binjiao all the way. From 13-11, the Chinese girl raced ahead giving the Indian no chance to come back.
Not giving much lift to the bird, Binjiao restricted Sindhu from executing her trademark smashes or overhead drives. It was no different in the second game as Binjiao broke free from the 7th point to emerge victorious.
Japan Open BWF Tour Super 750
Manu-Sumeeth beat Olympics silver medallists
Manne Ratnakar, Stunning win for Manu-Sumeeth duo, September 13, 2018: The Times of India
Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy stunned Rio Olympics silver medallists Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong 15-21, 23-21, 21-19 to make it to the pre-quarterfinals of the Japan Open BWF Tour Super 750 tournament in Tokyo.
The Indians saved a match point to beat the Malaysian in 54 minutes. Staring down the barrel at 19-20 in the second game, Manu-Sumeeth won two crucial points to force the decider. In the keenly-contested third game, the Indians trailed 17-19 but did well to seal the issue.
It was this killer instinct that was missing from this pair. At the Asian Games in Jakarta, the duo could have won a medal. Leading 20-18 in the third game, they lost to Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the pre-quarterfinals.
"We are playing well now. We kept our nerves and supported each other. This victory will give us a lot of confidence for future," Attri said. The world No. 28 Indians will face world No.18 Chinese pair of Qiang Tan and He Jiting in the second round. This would be the first meeting between the two teams.
The junior men's doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and the women's outfit of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy lost their first round matches. While Satwik/Chirag lost to third-seeded Japanese Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 12-21, 17-21, Ashwini-Sikki went down to South Korea's Chang Ye Na and Jung Kyung Eun 17-21, 13-21.
PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and the mixed doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy will play their second round matches. Sindhu faces Chin's Gao Fangjie.
Sameer wins Swiss, Kashyap Austrian Open
February 26, 2018: The Times of India
Sameer Verma won the first biggest title for India in 2018 by emerging triumphant in the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel on Sunday.
Though they reached the finals, neither Saina Nehwal (Indonesia Masters) nor PV Sindhu (India Open) could clinch the titles this season. But Sameer faced no such final blues as he notched up a fluent victory against former Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-15, 21-13.
The Pullela Gopichand Academy trainee needed just 36 minutes to ease past the former world No.2. Jorgensen, who won the World Championships bronze in 2015, was out of sorts as Sameer looked in full low. Sameer started with a 3-0 lead in the first game and the closest Jorgensen came was at 10-12. Sameer then produced a five-point burst to took the issue beyond the Dane.
Sameer was even more dominant in the second game as he took off from 11-9 to 17-9 in one serve.
A few hours earlier about 720 kilomtres away from Basil, Sameer's senior pro Parupalli Kashyap clinched the Austrian Open.
Ending a long title drought, Kashyap annexed the Austrian Open International Challenge title with a convincing victory against June Wei Cheam of Malaysia 23-21, 21-14. The 31-year-old, who was struggling to comeback after recurring injuries, was in complete control despite a tough first game.
Having enduring tough time ever since he won the Commonwealth Games men's singles gold at Glasgow in 2014, Kashyap is pleased with the victory.
"For any player it is important to win titles, I've to get into a habit of winning titles," Kashyap told ToI from Vienna. The seasoned campaigner is always hailed as the shuttler who make rapid strides before the younger lot led by Kidambi Srikanth began dominating men's singles.
Kashyap always believes that he has several good years of badminton left in him. Even last year he reached the finals of US Open.
The shuttler now wants to focus on getting some ranking points which would help him improve his ranking. "With this win I will get some points which will help to improve my ranking. I am playing some tournaments in Europe next month. So I hope to continue this winning form there as well. I've to keep improving myself," he said.
Sindhu, Prannoy bow out; Srikanth enters quarterfinals
September 14, 2018: The Times of India
Fatigue caught up with India's premier shuttler PV Sindhu as she was upstaged in straight games but Kidambi Srikanth entered quarterfinals of the $700,000 Japan Open here Thursday. Sindhu was beaten by China's Gao Fangjie in the women's singles second round, her first preliminary exit in almost a year. The Indian went down fighting 18-2119-21in 55 minutes to the world no 14 Chinese. She had lost in the opening round at the Denmark Open in October 2017.
Former world no.1 Srikanth, however, didn't break a sweat as he avenged his Asian Games loss to Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent with a clinical 21-15, 21-14 victory to enter the men's singles quarterfinals. The seventhseeded Indian, who won a silver at the Commonwealth Games, will face Korea's Lee Dong Keun next.
However, it was curtains for the other Indian in the men's draw, HS Prannoy, as he went down to giant-killer Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. The world no.10 Indonesian defeated formidable Japanese Kento Momota and Olympic champion Chen Long at the Asian Games.
Sindhu, who has endured a hectic BWF season reaching five finals including three majors at CWG, World Championship and Asian Games, seemed mentally drained as errors crept into her game. The Indian put up a decent fight as she recovered from 2-8 down in the opening game but squandered a 17-14 lead.
See also
Pages on individual stars like


text:
If you've played Crysis 3 on the PC, you've probably noticed that the first level, even on a powerful system, chugs. Badly. It gets you off on the wrong foot with the game, because you start worrying more about hardware than the experience, and that sucks.
Stick with it, though; bizarrely, as the first level's tight corridors open up into vast expanses of a ruined New York, Crysis 3 runs a lot smoother. Which doesn't make sense, seeing as it should be the other way around.
This weird scenario has a weird solution, though: it's all to do with ropes. Yup. Ropes.
Modder MaLDoHD, who has done some very fancy work on Crysis 2, discovered that, for whatever reason, the ropes used in the level to hold up cargo containers are cutting people's framerates in half.
When the ropes are stationary, everything's fine and dandy at 60fps. If they move in the wind or are shot at, though, things can drop to under 40fps (that's the rate recorded by MaLDoHD... for me, it was much, much lower).
Strange, yes, and currently without a fix, but at least now you know it's the game's fault, and not that of your hardware.
Performance bug in Crysis 3 first level [MaLDoHD, via PC Gamer]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Join us on Saturday, August 21st at 8am, Freeport, IL
Every year, we honor the memory of Colby J. Smith with the Colby Smith Memorial 4-Mile Classic and Colby Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The run is a 4-mile, course-certified, Rockford Road Runners circuit race. The 14th annual race will be held in Freeport on Saturday, August 21. Trophies are awarded to the top overall male and female winners and medals are given to the top three male and female runners in all age groups. To register for the race, use the "Register Now" button below.
Proceeds from the race benefit the Colby Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund which provides scholarships for students to attend Aquin Catholic Schools. To make a contribution to the scholarship fund, which has awarded over $100,000 to students since 2010, please use the "Donate" button below.
Thank you for your support!
Tim, Mida, Jennifer, Anne, Sarah, Amanda, Enid, Shannon and our families
To register by mail, download a registration form.


text:
Community Sports
Ragball tourney sign ups continue
- Details
- Category: Community Sports
- Published on 02 June 2013
- Written by Mount Vernon Optic-Herald
Gather your team and get ready for a little friendly competition for a good cause.
The Creek of Dreams Ragball Tournament is set for Friday and Saturday, June 7-8 at Little Creek Park. Proceeds from the event will be utilitzed for maintenance and improvements at the park. For more details, see the May 30 edition of the Mount Vernon Optic-Herald.


text:
We all know that colds and viruses spread through the office with ease. But the latest health studies show a new behavior that is also contagious, being a jerk.
According to the Harvard Business Review, when a boss is unkind at work, employees notice and tend to follow that lead. Their research found that when a boss is rude, about 1 in 4 employees is also rude.
WebMD also looked into this new phenomenon. Paul Harvey, an associate professor of organizational behavior at the University of New Hampshire, found that the entire work environment can be negatively impacted by this. He says, "When vicarious abusive supervision is present, employees realize that the organization is allowing this negative treatment to exist, even if they are not experiencing it directly."
The research encourages business leaders to be as positive as possible at work. Acting nasty at work can cause more harm than you might think.


text:
Chelsea's 4-0 victory against Brentford was a poignant one because it came just 24 hours after Arsenal's miserable exit at the hands of Blackburn Rovers, a match that ended with Wenger being booed and suggestions from some quarters that it may be time for him to move on.
Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez has become used to exactly the same kind of treatment since he arrived in West London but not even his harshest critic would suggest he is a man who fails to understand the value of silverware.
The Spaniard trotted out his routine patter about 'taking one game at a time' and 'finishing in the top four' being the priority in his post-match press conference but the team he fielded against opponents who play in League One proved he understands how important the FA Cup can be to a side's development — and a manager's survival chances.
On paper the four-goal victory looked routine; for the last half hour it probably was. But Brentford, led magnificently in midfield by former Republic international Jonathan Douglas, proved tactically-adept competitors and would have gone ahead before half-time if referee Neil Swarbrick had been more alert. Marcello Trotta had the ball in the net for the Bees only to see play brought back for a free-kick to his own team when the correct decision was surely to play on.
It took a moment of magic from Juan Mata to turn the game watched from the stands by Roman Abramovich on a rare visit.
The Spaniard's sublime finish from the edge of the area justified his manager's decision to start his star player rather than offering him a rest in contrast to Wenger who left Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla on the bench against Blackburn and paid a heavy price.
The goal broke Brentford's resolve, with Chelsea eventually sweeping to victory as Oscar and Lampard scored from close range and John Terry — returning to the side after being omitted for the Europa League trip to Sparta Prague — headed home a fourth.
"We knew they would work hard and we know that scoring the first goal could be the difference," said Benitez. "So I was pleased to score four goals and create chances.
"Mata is a very important player for us but also I was pleased with Oscar and the rest of the team. We have good players and if they can find each other then they can make the difference and Mata is the link. But the main thing is the team doing well, winning games; four goals and a clean sheet!"
Benitez also shot down reports, printed in a Sunday newspaper, that he had fallen out with captain Terry following a dressing-room argument over the defender's form.
"We were surprised with the comments. It was totally rubbish," he said. "We didn't have any problem. We were talking just about football with the team, he was training yesterday and everything was fine. So I was really, really surprised and disappointed with the story."
Terry, too, was back to his diplomatic best, saying: "It was good to get on the scoresheet and good to be back. The manager knows me and I want to play. I have been out for two or three months [with a knee injury], but the other two [centre-backs] have been doing well. It's good to have competition."
Only time will tell how long Terry's patience will last; especially as Benitez re-confirmed his policy that the former 'untouchable' will have to fight hard to earn his place.
Unlike Arsene, Benitez can at least see light at the end of the tunnel; because that's what the glitter of silverware can do for you.
CHELSEA: Cech 6, Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6, Terry 7, Cole 6, Luiz 6, Lampard 7 (Bertrand 80), Oscar 7, Mata 8 (Benayoun 76; 5), Moses 7 (Hazard 65; 6), Ba 6.
Subs not used: Turnbull, Ramires, Torres, Azpilicueta,.
BRENTFORD: Moore 6, Logan 8, Craig 6, Dean 6, Bidwell 6, Adeyemi 7, Diagouraga 6 (Reeves 73; 6), Douglas 8, Forshaw 8 (Saunders 78), Donaldson 7, Trotta 5 (Forrester 56; 6).
Subs not used: Lee, Barron, Hodson, Hayes.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).


text:
|Biographical information
c. 1926
|Blood status
|Marital status
|Physical information
|Family information
|Family members
|Magical characteristics
- Lord Voldemort: "And here we have Crabbe… you will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle? The same goes for you, Nott."
- Nott: "My Lord, I prostrate myself before you, I am your most faithful —"
- Lord Voldemort: "That will do."
- — Lord Voldemort to Nott at Little Hangleton graveyard.[src]
Nott was a pure-blood wizard, most likely a Slytherin student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and one of the earliest Death Eaters of Lord Voldemort, having joined in 1955 [2]. He fought in the First Wizarding War, and travelled to Hogsmeade in order to "wish good luck" to Tom Riddle in trying to get a teacher position at Hogwarts. He was the husband of Mrs Nott, who died in the 1980s, and the father of Theodore Nott, a Slytherin student at Hogwarts from 1991 to 1998. Nott didn't search for Voldemort after his downfall, but this was forgiven after Voldemort's return in 1995. Nott fought at several battles of the Second Wizarding War, including the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, in which he was injured. After the Battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort's final defeat, he was presumably killed or imprisoned in Azkaban.
Early lifeEdit
Nott was born into the pure-blood Nott family, which placed much interest in purity of blood. He began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the age of eleven and was most likely Sorted into Slytherin House. He might have been a classmate of Tom Riddle, as well as a member of his gang. While part of the student body, he seems to have become a friend of Horace Slughorn, and as such was likely part of the Slug Club, although the professor denied this connection in later years, after Nott was revealed to have become one of the first Death Eaters.
First Wizarding WarEdit
- "...-Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov- waiting for your return... What devoted friends, traveling so far away in the snow and the night just to wish you good luck in trying to get a teacher position!"
- —Albus Dumbledore to Lord Voldemort.[src]
Nott fought in the First Wizarding War, and, along with Mulciber, Rosier and Dolohov, he had travelled to Hogsmeade, to "say good luck to Voldemort, during his attempt to ask for work at Hogwarts." Nott was able to avoid being sent to Azkaban after the downfall of Lord Voldemort in 1981. An elderly widower, Nott raised his son, Theodore, after the death of his wife sometime before 1991.[1] Nott was also one of the Death Eaters who did not search for Voldemort after his downfall.
Second Wizarding WarEdit
When Voldemort returned to power in 1995, Nott Apparated to his side when summoned and professed to be Voldemort's most faithful servant[3].
Battle of the Department of MysteriesEdit
- "Leave Nott, leave him I say, the Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as losing that prophecy."
- —Lucius Malfoy[src]
The following year, Nott participated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He grabbed hold of Harry Potter as he and his friends fled the Hall of Prophecy, but was stunned by Hermione Granger, leaving him incapacitated as shelves filled with prophecies collapsed around him. The group leader, Lucius Malfoy, ordered the other Death Eaters to leave Nott behind, stating that his injuries would be considered nothing by Voldemort compared to the loss of the particular prophecy which Voldemort sought.[4] After the battle, Nott was exposed as a Death Eater and imprisoned in Azkaban.
After this, Nott most likely escaped from Azkaban along with many other Death Eaters in the summer of 1997 and served Voldemort during the height of the Second Wizarding War. He possibly fought in several battles, including the Battle of Hogwarts.
After Lord Voldemort's final defeat, Nott was presumably killed or reimprisoned in Azkaban.
Behind the scenesEdit
- Nott attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry along with Tom Marvolo Riddle and attended one of Horace Slughorn, Head of Slytherin House's dinner parties.
- He is played by Paschal Friel in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
Notes and referencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Malfoy & Nott (Chamber of Secrets/Goblet of Fire)" at J.K. Rowling Official Site
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 20
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 33
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35


text:
Opting Out of Overoptimism
The willful distortion of reality to extremes
can be harmful
ARE YOU BETTER THAN AVERAGE AS A DRIVER? I know I am. I'll bet 90 percent of you think you are, too, because this is the well-documented phenomenon known as the above-average effect, part of the psychology of optimism.
According to psychologist Daniel Kahneman, in his 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow, "people tend to be overly optimistic about their relative standing on any activity in which they do moderately well." But optimism can slide dangerously into overoptimism. Research shows that chief financial officers, for example, "were grossly overconfident about their ability to forecast the market" when tested by Duke University professors who collected 11,600 CFO forecasts and matched them to market outcomes and found a correlation of less than zero! Such overconfidence can be costly. "The study of CFOs showed that those who were most confident and optimistic about the S&P index were also overconfident and optimistic about the prospects of their own firm, which went on to take more risk than others," Kahneman notes.
Isn't optimistic risk taking integral to building a successful business? Yes, to a point. "One of the benefits of an optimistic temperament is that it encourages persistence in the face of obstacles," Kahneman explains. But "pervasive optimistic bias" can be detrimental: "Most of us view the world as more benign than it really is, our own attributes as more favorable than they truly are, and the goals we adopt as more achievable than they are likely to be." For example, only 35 percent of small businesses survive in the U.S. When surveyed, however, 81 percent of entrepreneurs assessed their odds of success at 70 percent, and 33 percent of them went so far as to put their chances at 100 percent. So what? In a Canadian study Kahneman cites, 47 percent of inventors participating in the Inventor's Assistance Program, in which they paid for objective evaluations of their invention on 37 criteria, "continued development efforts even after being told that their project was hopeless, and on average these persistent (or obstinate) individuals doubled their initial losses before giving up." Failure may not be an option in the mind of an entrepreneur, but it is all too frequent in reality. High-risk-taking entrepreneurs override such loss aversion, a phenomenon most of us succumb to in which losses hurt twice as much as gains feel good that we developed in our evolutionary environment of scarcity and uncertainty. (continue reading…)


text:
- The secrets of Thatcher's voice: NPR's Fresh Air did this smashing interview with Oscar nominee Meryl Streep about her recent role as Margaret Thatcher. In it, Streep speaks extensively about using her voice to create a role and how Thatcher spoke--including how the Prime Minister figured out how to keep men from interrupting her. An insightful and engaging listen.
- Free access to great health/medical/science speakers: TEDMED 2012, set for April 10-13 in Washington, DC, will make available live simulcasts of its main-hall sessions for free. The Association of American Medical Colleges is sponsoring simulcasts for "the nation's medical students, resident physicians, faculty, staff and the leadership of America's medical schools, teaching hospitals and health systems, and academic and scientific socieities represented by the AAMC." Siemens is sponsoring "TEDMEDLive Simulcasts to additional qualified non-profits in the world of health and medicine, including key foundations, professional associations, and others." Here's how to apply for the live simulcast at your organization.
- The eyes and ears have it: Psychotactics Zingers blog gives you an easy way to tell whether your audience has had enough: Look at their eyes and their ears. They're your cue to stop talking and let the audience take a break or get more involved.
- TED's waiting for you: The TED conference, which experimented with live open auditions late last year, will now let prospective speakers audition. It's a great way to break into a high-profile speaking opportunity. Find out more about how to audition for TED here.
- Woman takes top speaker honors in the UK: The UK Speechwriters' Guild is giving its Business Communicator of the Year Award to Gillian Tett, the US Managing Editor of the Financial Times. The judges noted that Tett "had the courage to speak out about what was going wrong in the financial system and the skill to explain how it happened. She makes simple analogies everyone can understand (comparing derivatives to sausages). She tells stories involving human beings acting at specific times in specific places. She self-deprecatingly refers to herself as a 'hippy' in a world of mathematics and astrophysics geeks and despite working in a world overflowing with acronyms, she avoids them deftly." The Guild holds its spring conference on February 23 in London. Here's a video so you can get a sense of Tett's speaking style:
Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.


text:
Borderlands 3 is the fourth main and fifth overall entry in Gearbox Software's Borderlands game series. It was announced by Randy Pitchford, Gearbox CEO on March 28th, 2019 and released on September 13th, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on the Epic Games Store. The game later released for Google Stadia on December 17th, 2019, and is set to release on Steam for PC in April 2020. Borderlands 3 is built on Unreal Engine 4.
Taking place approximately seven years after the events of Borderlands 2 and six years after the events of Tales from the Borderlands, Borderlands 3 begins with four new Vault Hunters - Amara the Siren, FL4K the Beastmaster, Moze the Gunner, and Zane the Operative - joining Lilith's Crimson Raiders as new recruits sent to investigate the Children of the Vault cult and their mysterious leaders, the Calypso twins, Tyreen and Troy, who are believed to be in possession of the long lost Vault Map. Upon reclaiming the Vault Map, The Crimson Raiders and allies board the Sanctuary III spacecraft to journey beyond Pandora to other planets throughout the galaxy to claim the Vaults they hold before the Calypsos can steal their power for themselves.
- Main article: Borderlands 3 mission flow
Character Classes
Borderlands 3 has four playable characters:
New Features
- Improved movement system: Vault Hunters can now mantle up ledges they can't quite reach normally and crouch-slide to quickly get behind cover or get through low openings.
- Alternate-fire modes on many weapons, ranging from under-barrel attachments to dual weapon elements and more.
- In addition to Vault Hunters being able to revive NPCs, friendly NPCs can revive Vault Hunters.
- Action Skills are expanded upon, allowing characters to equip one of three action skills at any given time (with the exception to Zane, who can equip two at once). Action Skill augments (represented by a chevron shaped icon) can be unlocked and chosen for free to increase Action Skill effectiveness, by investing skill points into the associated skill tree.
- Loot-instancing and level scaling modes:
- Cooperative mode: Each player has their own loot instance (ie. two players can loot the same loot chest and obtain different gear) and character levels are intuitively scaled (weapons inflict a damage percentage which is then applied to the enemy). This enables players to play together without issues like loot thieving or long sessions of leveling help.
- Competitive mode: The default mode of Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, where everyone in the session shares the same loot and higher leveled characters hold advantage over the lower leveled characters against high-level enemies.
- Prominent bosses (such as those fought during the storyline) have multiple stages during their encounters.
- A Lost Loot machine, accessed onboard Sanctuary III, provides players with an opportunity to recover high quality items (blue and above) that they did not or could not pick up during missions or whilst exploring.
- Players can acquire loot while watching their favorite streamers by using the new ECHOcast extension on Twitch.
- Radiation has been added as an elemental damage type as a replacement/adaptation of the slag element in Borderlands 2. Enemies afflicted with radiation will take damage over time, can damage other enemies and explode upon death.
- There are two new weapon manufacturers: COV (which replaces the bandits from Borderlands 2 and scavs from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel) and Atlas (returning from the original Borderlands).
- A ping system to highlight locations, weapons, NPCs, enemies, and other objects will be added.
- Emotes: forms of expressions from dances to taunts represented through your character.
- Player interactive environments:
- Barrels can now be moved by the player by meleeing or sliding into them, thereby priming them for explosion.
- Pipe Covers can be destroyed, resulting in element sensitive pools appearing (such as flammable oil).
- Cover such as wooden barricades can be chipped away at and destroyed if sufficiently damaged.
- Customization has been enhanced - vehicle skins and character heads and skins can also have their colors altered to further modify appearance, the player character's quarters aboard Sanctuary III can have gear mounted on the wall alongside unlockable decorations, and weapons can have skins applied as well as trinkets to hang off them.
- Vehicles have been enhanced:
- Enemy piloted vehicles can be hijacked for use in the field or to be taken to the Catch-A-Ride system to be scanned in to unlock their parts and customization for use on the player's own vehicles.
- New vehicle customization options: armor and wheel types for each vehicle can now be changed to utilize varying features (such as hover wheels that allow for gliding off ramps) and modify armor effectiveness and vehicle speed.
- Ava
- Brick
- Claptrap
- Clay
- Lilith
- Lorelei
- Marcus
- Maya
- Mordecai
- Mr. Torgue
- Patricia Tannis
- Rhys
- Sir Hammerlock
- Tina
- Typhon DeLeon
- Vaughn
- Wainwright Jakobs
- Zer0
At the PAX South 2015 convention, Gearbox stated that the game was in development and had been since sometime in 2015, with the company hiring multiple developers.
At the 2017 GDC, Gearbox Software showed off the first footage of Borderlands 3 in the form of an Unreal Engine 4 tech demo. The game will sport higher definition visuals than all previous entries, due to being the first game natively tailored for eighth generation consoles. New additions include greater dynamic lighting, capable of passing and diluting through fabric, as well as real-time shadows that can also interact with fabric in a similar way. Also added is a revamped outline engine that is capable of fitting smaller outlines around inner details of the game's 3D models, as opposed to the previous games, which only placed outlines on the outer edges of the game's geometry. Lastly, the tech demo also had a confirmed female character who may play a large part in the game, either as a Vault Hunter or as an important NPC. Her face is never shown as she is only seen in silhouette form and from the side, where a large pauldron obscures her face. The developers referred to the character with female pronouns during the presentation and were adamant about keeping her face obscured. No further footage of the game was shown. As of April 2019, we now know that the showcased character was the playable character Moze.
At PAX East, 2019, an official teaser trailer for the game, titled "Mask of Mayhem", was released. The trailer features an animated 3D collage of various characters, both new and familiar, made to look like porcelain. The end of the trailer zooms out to reveal the collage is in the shape of a Psycho's mask. What follows is the tagline "Mayhem is coming." with the Borderlands website address underneath.
The day after, during Gearbox's presentation, a full reveal trailer for Borderlands 3 was showcased. It showed off new characters, including the new Vault Hunters, returning characters, a villainous duo, several new enemies and several new weapon designs.
- During development, Gearbox Software referred to Borderlands 3 as "the big one."
- According to the developers, Borderlands 3 allegedly features over 1 billion guns.
- This is the first major Borderlands game to not feature the psycho holding the gun gestures on the cover of the game.


text:
ArcSoft and HD DVD Promotion Group Demonstrate Playback Technology
ArcSoft, Inc. is demonstrating ArcSoft Digital Theatre 2 this week at IFA 2007 in conjunction with the HD DVD Promotion Group. Digital Theatre is a high definition video player that supports playback of HD DVDs, commercial and homemade DVDs, and a variety of high definition multimedia files.
The HD DVD Promotion Group is showcasing Digital Theatre as part of its advancement of standards-based implementations of HD DVD playback.
"We are excited to be presenting our high definition solutions at IFA," said Michael Downs, ArcSoft Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. "We have been working closely with the HD DVD Promotion Group, leading graphics chipset companies, and the major Hollywood studios to ensure that we can provide complete, high performance, high quality HD DVD functionality."
Digital Theatre's HD DVD playback functionality includes complete support for high definition interactive content such as U-Control. Additionally, Digital Theatre supports next generation audio formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS, as well as a variety of advanced trick play features such as Smart Stretch and Time Stretch. Available for Windows XP and Windows Vista, the program also includes a Windows Media Center Edition plug-in that provides a 10-foot user experience.
Digital Theatre is available as a standalone application or as part of ArcSoft TotalMedia? Extreme, a software suite that provides solutions for playback, capture, editing, and authoring of standard and high definition content. For more details, please visit www.arcsoft.com/products/digitaltheatre.


text:
Research report on Global Waterproof Speakers Industry 2016 Size, Share, Trends, Growth, Demand, Supply, Application, Segmentation, Opportunity, Market Development, Analysis and Forecast by 2020
Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/29/2016 -- Supported by comprehensive primary as well as secondary research, the report Global Waterproof Speakers Industry 2016 presents profitable market insights. This market research report has deployed suggestions from numerous industry experts and also presents valuable recommendations from expert and experienced market analysts.
The report incorporates restraints, market drivers, opportunities, challenges, investment potential, future roadmap, new innovations, vendor profiles, market trends, and strategies. The report also details market size forecasts for the global Waterproof Speakers market. Additionally, further forecasts have been presented pertaining to the dominant segments of the Waterproof Speakers market. The report is deployed along with numerous graphs, charts, and graphics for a better and vivid understanding of the market data.
Enquire about report: http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/report/85689/inquiry-for-buying
To add on, the report answers some key questions, which are as follows:
What are the drivers impacting the market growth of the Waterproof Speakers market?
What will be the estimated Waterproof Speakers market size and the CAGR at which the market will expand, by the end of the forecast horizon?
Which geographical segments (regions) as well as sub-areas will expand at the most elevated rate during the forecast horizon?
What are the primary strategies adopted by the emerging organizations in the Waterproof Speakers market?
How will the market dynamics be shaped by the end of the forecasting horizon?
A detailed evaluation of the leading vendors in the Waterproof Speakers market is delivered and a description of how these top companies are focusing at the emerging markets around the world is conferred through this report. In addition to this, recent strategic mergers, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions taking place in the global Waterproof Speakers market have been incorporated in this report.
Ask for Sample report: http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/report/85689/request-sample
A section demonstrating the key recommendations for established players and new entrants is also exhibited in this study. Strategic recommendations from senior analysts provide a clear perspective with regard to the key strategies to be adopted to get the most benefit from entering the Waterproof Speakers market.
Contact Us
Joel John
Tel: 386-310-3803
GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714
USA/Canada Toll Free No. 855-465-4651
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web: http://www.9dresearchgroup.com


text:
It's that time of year again. A long time since I've blogged but you can always count on the fact that once the end of year lists start rolling in I won't be able to resist sticking my two pennies' worth in. I'm making a change from previous years; after reading this excellent article by Laura Barton I've decided to ditch the countdown approach of old. I'm simply going to share details of the albums that have given me the most musical enjoyment over the last twelve months. Commentary will be kept to a minimum – I'll link to a taster to see if you might be keen and if you want to know more then leave a comment and I'll respond.
The Decemberists – The King is Dead
An unashamedly rootsy album which sees a well-timed break from the concept approach favoured of late. Each track is stripped down to its core elements of throaty, impassioned vocal accompanied by music so raw it often feels like a live album. Slick production has been eschewed on this record and it set a trend which became a theme through the finer albums this year. Meloy always sounds great but whoever came up with the idea of getting Gillian Welch on board deserves the credit for turning a good album into a great one.
Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys
The first DCFC album to embrace the more electronica approach of the Postal Service but with less immediate melodies. The album still boasts some great moments of Gibbard flair for memorable hooks- the title track could be straight off the latest Arcade Fire latest record. It was an album that took me a long time to like but really hit home when I listened to it on my iPod when running; it too easily becomes audio wallpaper when left as background music. Doors Unlocked and Open is probably the standout track – indulging a slow build intro as has worked on past records. It marks a contrast to the vapid 'You are a tourist' which is nothing more than Gibbard by numbers and was a baffling choice of lead single. 'Stay Young, Go Dancing' neatly finishes off proceedings as a reminder that the crafting of wistful grin inducing pop may not have dominated this album but is a gift that has not been abandoned.
Ages and Ages – Alright You Restless
A very very retro record. Listening to it feels like peering in on a boozy how down. Expect scruffy guitars, handclaps, group singing, and an urge to reach for a bottle of the good stuff. If you like the idea of Jack White singing Creedence then this will hit the spot. They've been described as 'raw choral pop' and I can't think of a better way to describe them.
Wilco – The Whole Love
The latest offering from Tweedy and pals opens with statement of intent; fractured, mixture of beats and Tweedy delivering an almost ethereal vocal; bit of a red herring as rest of album is uniformly warm respectfully borrowing elements of White Album and Abbey Road to deliver delightful songs (Capitol city in particular is pure Lennon/McCartney). 'I might' is classic Wilco – essentially the sound Spoon et al have sought to ape with union if percussion and bass to create sense of direction. Unlike many albums this year (including some on this list) it feels like a complete work, carefully crafted to leave an impression rather than a collection of barely related songs.
Beirut – The Rip Tide
A little surprised they haven't been more heavily promoted given the recent trend of Mumford etc. No bells or whistles here; beautiful vocal delivery conveys simply crafted emotionally gripping songs. One standout element is how brass is used to add gravitas. So many bands of late have thought chucking in a tuba automatically adds weight when in fact most of the time it overpowers the song; not the case with Beirut.
Fruit Bats – Tripper
The old adage that anything associated with The Shins is worth listening to holds true with Fruit Bats. The vocal at times is akin to Jake shears. Don't let that fool you into expecting an album of disco pop. 'Banishment song' could be Air, with glacial, sparse arrangements reinforcing the sense that separate elements have been carefully and deliberately arranged to produce a clean soundscape.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It's a Corporate World
Finally someone brought the fun to 2011. Flavoured with more than a light touch of hot chip this album pulses with innovation and a desire to entertain. There is a terrific flair for a hook and melody throughout the album balanced with a real ability to communicate both pleasure and introspection. To top it all off it contains a quite stunning Gil Scott cover.
Dawes – Nothing is Wrong
Honest simple melodic joy. There is an earnestness about Dawes which keeps them on the acceptable side of sentimental and encourages you to connect to the lyrics. If you are expecting unpredictable, innovative soundscapes then look elsewhere, but if you are partial to a bit of Josh Rouse and/or Jackson Browne then you really should give this a listen.
The Strokes – Angles
The posturing, 'look at me' cool of Is This It has gone and part of me is a little sad about that. However the switch from calculated indifference to bubbling exuberance has produced a gloriously positive record which is pitched firmly in the eighties. It might not scale the heights of Room On Fire (very few albums have) but this is destined for a place in my heart. For a large part of 2011 if you wanted a great going out record – this was it.
The Black Keys – El Camino
After a lot of reflective, introspective music threatened to engulf the musical landscape in 2011 thank fuck for the Black Keys. I am a lover of The Eagles of Death Metal and didn't feel anyone else was quite capable of their raucous, scuzzy fun – then came El Camino. An absolute belter of a record that you want to start again immediately after it has finished. It might sound like an album stitched together from various other great rock bands but when it sounds like this frankly who cares?
The King's Will – As The Power Falls
During the late summer surreal spectacle that was Manchester United's humiliation of Arsenal, I was introduced through a friend to a fellow United fan. Surrounded by a sea of opposition fans in the heart of Highbury a friendship was quickly forged. Views on football, politics, etc were shared and all was will until it came to the issue of music. My new acquaintance revealed he was part of an electronica poetry outfit and he would love me to listen. As articulate and interesting as he seemed, the very idea of electronica poetry had me expecting a hellish cacophony of pretension which I would have to pretend to tolerate in a bid to appease my friend. Listen to the song below, chuckle to yourself at what a fool I was to doubt it, and then go listen to the rest King's Will. Sometimes music is fun, but on a rare occasion music becomes necessary. This is the latter.
If you like and want to know more get in touch with the creator: @okwonga
Laura Marling – A Creature I Don't Know
The heavenly Miss Marling seems to have taken on a more experimental approach and it works magnificently. Clearly overflowing with songs so rightly putting them out there (Ryan Adams style). This is admittedly less cohesive than her previous albums, yet triumphs as a collection of dazzling independent songs. Capable of epic and gentle – often in same song like on the captivating Don't ask me why.
Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Roots
An album packed with deceptively intricate arrangements bringing together reflective lyrics and variety of instruments. At times the Bright Eyes influence is clear but I would not be surprised to find Elliot Smith cited as an influence. Like Beirut they seem perfectly pitched for recent trends and in my view are superior to some of the 'new folk' groups already enjoying considerable success.
Adele – 21
Yes I know, this makes me deeply uncool. How can I select something that has sold loads of records, been ruthlessly promoted and provided the first dances for countless doomed marriages. Yet when you ignore all that, you're left with a woman with a phenomenal voice, connecting with and conveying the emotion of some quite brilliant songwriting. I don't believe commercial success should make you unworthy of critical acclaim so this is mine.
Yuck – Yuck
Oh God, Yuck are like, so trying to be the Smashing Pumpkins… I've heard this and largely agree with it. However I do think some people get bizarrely hung up on influences – they aren't 'ripping off' Corgan and co, rather are producing some of the finest reverb soaked music around in a style not a million miles away from the early 90s. I can't see a problem with it myself and have spent many an enjoyable run/cycle/drive relishing every track which could easily be a single in its own right.
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
By his standards Adams had been away for an unforgiveable length of time with fears that he might never be able to play again. Thankfully his creativity never left him and when the opportunity arose to get back in the studio the results are astonishing. It is far from a secret that I have long been an admirer yet if I'm honest the last two albums with The Cardinals were little more than decent. Ashes & Fire couldn't be more different – inspired by Laura Marling, Adams rediscovered the fire to prove he is the finest song-writer of his (or arguably any) generation and the result is an utter masterpiece.


text:
you dont want to miss this update!.. we have brook that gets down and dirty in the office.. this boss dont fuck around and if you fuck up shes gonna have to train your ass!..
these hot bitches are horny and want to fuck anywhere there is a room! especially in the office!... checjk out this hot free movie clisp then come inside for more hot action from all the office sluts!!!....


text:
A local assisted living facility will host the work of artists from throughout Florida during its Third Annual Juried Invitational Art Show.
The event, which is being by The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch, is an open, juried, all-media exhibition that will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jan. 22-30 at The Windsor, 8220 Natures Way, Lakewood Ranch.
Featured artists include Ann Abgott, an award-winning watercolor artist, and Brian Haverlock, an award-winning painter, among others.
The event is free of charge and open to the public.
For information, call The Windsor at 907-9177.
Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].