Sameer Verma

Both the shuttlers are former champions of the World Tour Super 500 tournament --while Saina Nehwal had won the tournament in 2015, PV Sindhu had clinched the women's singles title in 2017

Saina Nehwal, who is facing a race against time to qualify for her fourth Olympics, brushed aside Maria Ulitina 21-10 21-19 in the second round to set up a last-eight clash with Thailand's third seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan, who has beaten the Indian twice in the last two encounters

Kidambi Srikanth lost 14-21, 19-21 to Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama in the second round at the Korea Masters badminton tournament on Thursday.

Kidambi Srikanth defeated Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-18, 21-17 to enter the second round at the Korea Masters badminton tournament on Wednesday.

PV Sindhu took 36 minutes to see off World No. 19 Kim Ga Eun of Korea 21-15, 21-16 in the women's singles opening round at the Hong Kong Open badminton tournament on Wednesday.

Sakshi Malik, who became the first Indian women wrestler to win an Olympics medal at 2016 Rio Games, has fallen out of the favour and lost TOPS support, while Ravi Dahiya has been rewarded for earning a Tokyo Olympics quota

Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma, etc represent Indian interests in the 2019 BWF World Championships at Basel, Switzerland

Kidambi Srikanth's loss comes in a surprise as he fell short to World No.51 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito. On the other hand, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal had contrasting wins in the first round of the Asia Badminton Championship.

The last time an Indian had won the All England Championship was way back in 2001 by current national coach Pullela Gopichand, while Prakash Padukone was the first from the country to win the coveted crown in 1980.

This is the first time the prestigious Nationals is returning to the North-East since Guwahati last hosted it in 2010.