New Zealand Open-2011 updates

Indians started their New Zealand Open-2011 (Li-Ning New Zealand International Challenge 2011) campaign fairly well with National Badminton Champion Arvind Bhat, Aditya Elango and R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt advancing to the second round.

31-year old Arvind Bhat who recently regained the National badminton championship crown at Rohtak in Haryana this January, got the better of Daniel Gouw of USA 21-15, 21-17.

Chennai based Aditya Elango ranked 91 as per the world rankings, notched up a comfortable 21-10, 21-15 win over his much lower ranked opponent Andrew Paulet of Australia in just 22 minutes, while Gopichand Badminton Academy's star player R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt thrashed another lower ranked Australian David Nathan 21-10, 21-7 in a convincing victory.

Thane lad Eeshan Naqvi, and Ajit Wijettilak's New Zealand Open-2011 campaign however was stopped short, as they could not progress beyond the first round. Andre Kurniawan Tedjono of Indonesia defeated Eeshan Naqvi 21-18, 21-7 while Matthiew Lo Ying Ping of France beat Ajit Wijettilak 21-13, 21-11.

In the doubles section, the Indian pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Arun Vishnu will be playing their first match of the tournament tomorrow when they play against Chance Cheng/Joe Wu of New Zealand.


Related Articles:

Update: Guru Sai Dutt reaches quarter-finals of New Zealand Open-2011


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New Zealand Open-2011 from 30th Mar-3rd April

The New Zealand Open 2011 (Li-Ning New Zealand International Challenge 2011) badminton tournament is scheduled to be played in Auckland, New Zealand from 30th March to the 3rd of April.

Indians participating in the men's Singles event are:

• Arvind Bhat (the reigning Indian National Badminton champion),
• R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt,
• Aditya Elango,
• Eeshan Naqvi
• Ajit Wijetilak

And those taking part in the Men's Doubles event are:

• Akshay Dewalkar & Arun Vishnu who are seeded 3/4 meaning they are expected to reach the semi-finals based on the seeding allotted to them.

The first round draws for the Indians at the New Zealand Open -2011 are as below:

• Arvind Bhat vs. Daniel Gouw (USA)
• Eeshan Naqvi vs. Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (Indonesia)
• Ajit Wijetilak vs. Matthieu Lo Ying Ping (France)
• R.M.V. GuruSaiDutt vs. David Nathan (Australia)
• Aditya Elango vs. Andrew Paulet (Australia)

• Akshay Dewalkar/Arun Vishnu vs. Chance Cheng/Joe Wu (New Zealand)

Related Articles:

Update: RMV Guru Sai Dutt enters quarterfinals of New Zealand Open-2011
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Saina Nehwal Achievements

Saina Nehwal, India's best badminton player, and one of the top achievers in the world of badminton is currently ranked No.3 as per the latest Badminton World Federation's world rankings. Her achievements on the badminton court have put India on the global badminton map, and shown the world that the Chinese domination of the sport can be countered successfully.

Achievements of Saina Nehwal in badminton:

2003:

• Saina won the Gold Medal at the Czechoslovkia Junior Open badminton tournament.

2004:

• Won the Silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games badminton team event.

2005:

• Nehwal won the Gold Medal at the Asian Satellite badminton tournament.

2006:
Saina achieved her first major international title win on the senior professional badminton circuit by winning the Phillipines open title in 2006.

• Won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games.
• Winner at the Phillipines Open badminton tournament.
• Won the Asian Satellite badminton tournament again.

2007:

• Saina won the Gold medal at Indian National Badminton championships.
• Also won the Gold medal at the National Games of India.

2008:

• Achieved the feat of winning her first Grand Prix Gold at the Chinese Taipei Open.
• Became the National Badminton champion of India again.
• Won the Gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games
• Won the GOLD medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton championships. Clearly one of Saina Nehwal's most remarkable achievements in her illustrious badminton career.
• The same year Saina also achieved the distinction of reaching the Semi-finals of the Super-Series Masters finals.

2009:

• Won her first badminton Super-series event, by winning the Indonesia Super-Series Gold medal.
• Reached the quarter-finals of the BWF Badminton World Championships.
• Saina won an important home tournament the same year, by winning the India Open Grand Prix.

2010:

The year 2010 has been the most fruitful year for Saina Nehwal in terms of badminton achievements. She won 3 back to back Super-Series events in this year.

• Was a semi-finalist at the All-England Super-series, which is one of the most prestigious badminton tournaments in the world.
• Won a bronze medal at the Badminton Asia championships.
• Won the India Open Grand Prix Gold tournament.
• Winner at the Singapore Super-Series
• Winner at the Indonesia Super-series.
• Nehwal reached quarter-finals of the BWF World championsips for the second consecutive year.
• Saina then topped up the fantastic year with the Commonwealth Games Gold medal, in an intense match watched by thousands of Indian fans. Her Gold held India to achieve the 2nd position in the final medal-tally, pushing England to the 3rd position.
• Saina's dream run of 2010 continued, as she ended the year by winning the Hong Kong Super Series.

2011:

• Saina Nehwal won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold event.
• Finished runners-up at the Indonesia Open-2011 Super series premier badminton tournament.

Badminton Books

Looking for books on Badminton?

There are literally hundreds of good & not-so-good books that have been written on the subject of badminton. Some of these badminton books have been written by eminent players & coaches who have a lot of experience to back up their words.

However not every badminton book will suit your requirements. If you are looking to buy a book on the subject start with analyzing your requirement. Whom do you want to buy it for? What is the current level of play of the person who will be reading the book? Are you looking for elementary rules, badminton basics, footwork, drills, deceptive shots, record-books or something else?

You are the best judge to decide what you really want.
Listing below a few books readily available for purchase from Amazon.com.

With Amazon you not only get to view product reviews from people who have purchased the book, but it also gives a really nice option to flip through the book online to make your decision easier. Do use this option to read some of the contents of the book and see if this is exactly what you are looking for.


            


Search Amazon.com for badminton book

Badminton in India

History of Badminton in India
The game of badminton is believed to have been invented in the 1860's by British officers who were stationed at the Indian city of 'Poona' in the 1860's. The game itself was at the time also known as the 'Poona game'. It is said that these officers took the game back with them when they went to England, and it was there that the game was further developed and official rules were framed thus giving birth to the now popular sport of 'badminton'.

Interestingly the city of Pune (where badminton originated) still stands out from other Indian cities, when it comes to producing top notch badminton players for the country. Some of the best Indian women badminton players of today such as Aditi Mutatkar, Trupti Murgunde, Sayali Gokhale, Neha Pandit and Gayatri Vartak all hail from this city.

The game is governed in the country by the 'Badminton Association of India' which is a member of the 'Badminton World Federation' the word's governing body for the sport.

State of the sport in the country
Though Cricket is the no.1 sport in India, the country also has produced some fine badminton players over the years. The most famous amongst the former legendary players from India are Prakash Padukone & Pullela Gopichand. And in the current times Saina Nehwal's outstanding performances at the world level are inspiring a lot of youngsters in India to turn to badminton.

Famous Former Indian badminton players
1. Prakash Padukone - Former world no.1 and England Open champion
2. Pullela Gopichand - Former England Open champion

Famous Current Badminton Players of India
3. Saina Nehwal - Currently ranked No.3 in the world
4. Jwala Gutta - doubles player ranked in world's top 20
5. Ashwini Ponnappa - doubles player ranked in world's top 20

Famous Badminton Coaches and Training Academies in India
1. Gopichand badminton academy, at Hyderabad
2. Tata Padukone badminton academy, at Bangalore, and at Pune.

Know your Indian badminton players.
Several badminton players from the country other than Saina Nehwal, Jwala and Ashwini are also making there mark felt on the international badminton circuit. Men's singles players such as Chetan Anand, Parupalli Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram, Arvind Bhat, Anand Pawar, Anup Shridhar, the men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas have made their presence felt on the international circuit.

Here's a complete list of the best players in India, along-with their BWF (Badminton World Federation) world rankings.

List of best Badminton Players of India with World Rankings

Recent developments in Indian badminton

1. The most recent development has been that the 'India Open' tournament that is held in the country which was of a Grand Prix level earlier, has now been given the prestigious Super Series event status by the BWF.

2. On an experimental level, the Maharashtra Badminton League is getting started from 7th May-2011. This is for the first time, that the players have been auctioned and teams formed in the style of IPL in cricket. If this years MBL works out well, then the league might well expand to include other Indian states in the future.


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Polish Open-2011, Arundhati Pantawane out

Arundhati Pantawane's dream run at the Polish Open -2011 (35th Yonex Polish International Badminton Championships 2011) finally came to an end in the Semi-finals. The Polish Open is being held at Podlaskie in Poland from 24th to 27th March-2011.

6th seed and world no.34 Larisa Griga of Ukraine defeated a cramping Arundhati Pantawane 21-10, 21-17.

Earlier in the first round of the main draw, Arundhati had stunned world no.34 Anastasia Prokopenko of Russia 21-15, 21-23, 22-20, and in the quarter-finals had again come up with a sterling performance to beat world.no.64 Agnese Allegrini of Italy 20-22, 21-11, 21-13.

Arundhati's excellent run & semi-final finish at the Polish open, where she had started as a qualifier, means that she stands to gain 2800 world ranking points, (this being an Internatinal Challenge event). This will help her to move from her current ranking of no.267 to possibly break into the top 200 in world rankings. Important to note is her rapid rise in the charts, given that she was unranked at the start of the year 2011.

In the other women's singles semi-finals, which was a All-japanese affair, Yuka Kusunose defeated country-mate Yui Hashimoto 21-19, 21-15.

Like Arundhati, Yuka Kusunose of Japan, had started this tournament as a qualifier, however comparatively easier draws for her meant that she was able to retain & conserve her energy a bit better than Arundhati who eventually suffered with cramps before the semi-finals.

Former Indian National champion Sayali Gokhale who was defeated by Yuka in the first round, can definitely draw some consolation from the fact, that Yuka has eventually reached the finals, and the only match where Yuka was stretched to 3-sets in this tournament so far, was the match against Sayali.

In the men' singles 3rd seeded Anand Pawar was stopped dead in his tracks by 8th seed Vladimir Ivanov of Russia, who also has reached the finals of the men's singles event. Vladimir defeated Anand 21-10, 11-21, 21-15 in the quarter-finals of the Polish Open.

Related Articles:

Arundhati Pantawane

• An Interview with Arundhati Pantawane

Polish Open - 2011

• Arundhati storms to Quarter-Finals of Polish Open
• Arundhati, Aditya off to a flying start
• Polish Open-2011 from 24th-27th March

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Ashwini Ponnappa

Profile of Ashwini Ponnappa

Ashwini Ponnappa is one of the best doubles badminton players of India. She plays the women's doubles event partnering the more experienced Jwala Gutta. The pair is currently ranked No.19 as per the badminton world rankings (ranking as on 26-Mar-2011)



Ashwini Ponnappa

 Ashwini Ponnappa - Fact File

Birth date: 18-Sep-1989
Birth place: Bangalore, India
Stays at: Hyderabad, India
Plays: Right-handed (whereas her partner Jwala plays left-handed)

Ashwini Ponnappa - Notable Badminton Achievements:

Ashwini won the Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games-2010 at New Delhi in the women's doubles event, partnering with Jwala Gutta. She was also the winner of the Silver Medal at the Commonwealth Games-2010 mixed team event.

Ashwini had twice won the National Junior Badminton championship titles in the girl's doubles events in the years 2006 and 2007, partnering Nitya Sosale.
She also won the Gold medal at the South Asian games held in 2006.

Ashwini Ponnappa won the women's doubles title at the National Badminton Championship-2009 along-with her partner Jwala Gutta.

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Jwala Gutta

Profile of badminton player Jwala Gutta:

Jwala Gutta is India's best doubles badminton player as of today. In the mixed doubles event she along-with her partner Valiyaveetil Diju, are ranked No.18 in the world (as on 26-Mar-2011). Jwala also partners with Ashwini Ponnappa in the women's doubles event & they are currently ranked 19 in the world (as on 26-Mar-2011).

Jwala Gutta - Family Background

Jwala Gutta was born on 7-Sep-1983 in Wardha district of Maharashtra, and was brought up at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh in India.She is an Indian of a mixed Indo-Chinese descent.

Her great grandfather Tseng (her mother's grandfather) who hailed from Tianjin in China, was a journalist by profession and the editor of a Chinese newspaper in Singapore. Inspired by the Indian freedom struggle & Mahatma Gandhi, Tseng travelled to India in 1937 and stayed with Mahatma Gandhi for several months. Gandhi was very fond of Tseng, and nicknamed him Shantidoot (meaning messenger of peace), and used to call him Shanti.

After Mahatma Gandhi was assasinated, Jwala's great grandfather Tseng went back to China, but he came back again to India in the year 1977, almost 40 years after his first visit, and he stayed at the Sevagram Ashram at Wardha, where he did the very notable work of translating Gandhi's biography and other works into the Chinese language. He died at Acharya Vinoba Bhave's ashram, and left behind him a grand-daughter named Yelan.

Yelan could have gone back to China, but she chose to stay on in India, and later got married to an Indian (Jwala's father) in the year 1982. A year later the couple was blessed with a child, who they named Jwala, and who was destined to make a permanent mark on Indian badminton.

Jwala Gutta - Fact File
Date of birth: 7-Sep-1983
Place of birth: Wardha, Maharashtra, India
Jwala stays at: Hyderabad, in Andhra Pradesh, India.
She was coached by: S. M. Arif

Jwala Gutta World Ranking as on 26-Mar-2011

Women's doubles world ranking: 19 (partnering Ashwini Ponnappa)
Mixed doubles world ranking: 18 (partnering V.Diju)

Badminton Achievements

Year	Jwala Gutta - Notable Badminton Achievements
2000	·         Jwala partnered with Shruti Kurian to clinch the National Women's Doubles badminton title for the first time.
2001
2002	·         Won the Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner.
2003	·         She won the Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner. ·         Jwala became the Mixed doubles National champion for the first time with P.Gopichand as partner.
2004	·         Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner.
2005	·         Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner. ·         Mixed doubles National champion with V. Diju as partner. ·         Gutta won the Jakarta Satellite tournament XD (Mixed Doubles) event. ·         Also won the Welsh International tournament XD event.
2006	·         Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner. ·         Jwala Gutta won the Sri Lanka International Satellite tournament WD event.
2007	·         Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner. ·         Mixed doubles National champion with V. Diju as partner. ·         Winner at Sri Lanka International Satellite tournament XD (Mixed Doubles) event. ·         She won a double title at the Cyprus Badminton International tournament winning both the WD & Mixed Doubles events. ·         She also won at the Pakistan International Challenge tournament WD event. ·         Also double title winner at the Indian International Challenge tournament winning both in the WD and XD events.
2008	·         Women’s doubles National Champion with Shruti Kurian as partner. ·         Mixed doubles National champion with V. Diju as partner. ·         Jwala won the double crown at Nepal International Series tournament winning both the WD event and the XD events. ·         Also won the Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix 2008 WD event. ·         Winner at the Bitburger Open Grand Prix tournament XD event. ·         Winner at the Bulgaria Open Grand Prix tournament XD event.
2009	·         Women’s doubles National Champion with Ashwini Ponnappa as partner. ·         Mixed doubles National champion with V. Diju as partner. ·         Reached the Mixed Doubles finals of the World Super Series Masters Finals in Malaysia.
2010	·         Jwala Gutta won the Gold medal in Women Doubles Badminton event at the Commonwealth Games 2010.

Polish Open-2011-Arundhati in Quarters

Arundhati Pantawane stunned world no.35 & 2nd seeded Anastasia Prokopenko of Russia in the first round of the main draw of the Polish Open -2011 (35th Yonex Polish International Championships 2011) being held at Podlaskie in Poland.

The match was as tough as tough can get. And this was expected. Arundhati Pantawane eventually came up with one of her best ever wins defeating her higher ranked rival 21-15 21-23 22-20 in a nail-biter of a finish.

Arundhati followed up this splendid performance with another good win in the 2nd round defeating her Japanese rival, Minatsu Mitani 10-21, 21-19, 21-15 in another tough 3-setter match, to storm into the quarter-finals of the Polish Open-2011. Arundhati is now up against 6th seeded Agnese Allegrini (badminton world ranking 64) of Italy in the quarter-finals.

In another women's singles match Sayali Gokhale, who started well, eventually could not get past the first hurdle as she lost in the first round against her Japanese rival Yuka Kusunose. Yuka defeated Sayali 9-21, 21-18, 21-15.

Men' Singles Results:

In men's singles Anand Pawar is also doing full justice to his 3rd seeding and has reached the quarter-finals of the tournament. He defeated qualifier Jarolim Vicen of Slovakia 21-8, 21-17 in the first round, and Takashi Kawauchi of Japan 21-11, 16-21, 21-10 in the second round. 3rd seeded Anand is up against 8th seeded Russian Vladimir Ivanov in the quarter-finals.

In another men's singles Aditya Prakash of India, who had done well getting through to the main draw from the qualifying rounds, could not get past the first round. Kim Bruun of Denmark defeated Aditya 21-14, 21-19.

Polish Open-2011 - Indian Results at a glance for matches conducted so far...

Polish Open-2011 (35th Yonex Polish International Championships 2011)
Women’s Singles
1st round – Qual.	Arundhati	beat	Kamila Augustyn (Poland)	21-11, 21-11
2nd round – Qual.	Arundhati	beat	Kristine Sefere (Latvia)	21-16, 21-14
3rd round – Qual.	Arundhati	beat	Asumi Kugo (Japan)	21-8, 24-22
1st round	Arundhati	beat	Anastasia Prokopenko (Rus)	21-15 21-23 22-20
2nd round	Arundhati	beat	Minatsu Mitani (Japan)	10-21, 21-19, 21-15
1st round	Sayali Gokhale	lost	Yuka Kusunose (Japan)	21-9, 18-21, 15-21
Men’s Singles
1st round	Anand Pawar	beat	Jarolim Vicen (Slovakia)	21-8, 21-17
2nd round	Anand Pawar	beat	Takashi Kawauchi (Japan)	21-11, 16-21, 21-10
1st round – Qual.	Aditya	-	-	Bye
2nd round – Qual.	Aditya	beat	Maciej Poulakowski (Poland)	21-8, 15-21, 21-10
3rd round – Qual.	Aditya	beat	Adrian Dziolko (Poland)	21-18, 16-21, 21-13
1st round	Aditya	lost	Kim Bruun (Denmark)	14-21, 19-21

Polish Open - 2011

• Arundhati's Polish dream run finally ends
• Arundhati, Aditya off to a flying start
• Polish Open-2011 from 24th-27th March

Interviews

• An Interview with Arundhati Pantawane
• An Interview with Anand Pawar

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