Friday, March 21, 2008

Anup Sridhar ranked career-high No. 24 in the World

According to the latest world rankings released by BWF yesterday, Anup Sridhar contiues to be the top Indian player at No. 24 (34342 points). Anup shot up 5 places from last week thanks to his performance at the Swiss Open. Prior to this Anup had reached No. 25 in November last year.

Click here to check the world rankings.

Anup Sridhar engages veteran badminton coach Tom John

Anup Sridhar, India's top badminton player, has recently signed on veteran badminton coach Tom John as his personal traveling coach. John comes with over two decades of coaching experience in the UK and on international badminton circuits ...

Click here for the official press release.

Wilson Swiss Open Super Series 2008

In the first round, Anup Sridhar, the lone Indian male in the main draw, beat World No. 17 Shoji Sato from Japan. Anup now leads the Head-to-head 3:2.

In the first game, Anup trailed 14-19 at one stage but came back strong to win five points in succession, when it mattered most, to level the game at 19-19. The momentum was clearly in Anup's favor at that point and he went on to wrap up the first game 22-20. In the second game, Shoji got the early momentum on his side, by winning the first five points, and used that to wrap up the game 13-21. In the decider, the tables turned and Anup got the early momentum. He used it to stay well ahead of Shoji throughout the game and eventually wrapped up the game and match 21-14.

In the second round, Anup Sridhar (29) played World No. 7 Taufik Hidayat. Twelve minutes into the first game, with the score reading 11-9 in Taufik's favor, Anup injured his foot and was forced to retire.

Anup’s next tournament is the India Open Grand Prix Gold at Hyderabad from 1-6th April.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Yonex All England Super Series 2008


Anup Sridhar, World No. 26 and the only Indian male in the main draw, played Dan Lin, the World No. 1 from China, in the first round of the Yonex All England Open Super Series 2008. Anup started off well winning the first game 21-16, but then Lin Dan came back strong to take the next two games 21-8 21-11.

Anup feels he is getting closer and is optimistic of beating Dan Lin soon. Anup has good reason to feel that way as he was the only player, other than Jin Chen who beat Dan Lin in the finals, to take a game off Dan Lin.

Anup's next tournament is the Wilson Swiss Open Super Series 2008, which begins tomorrow. Anup is again the only Indian male in the main draw and plays World No. 17 Shoji Sato from Japan in the first round.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Yonex German Open 2008

Anup Sridhar, seeded No. 9, faced 2004 Athens Olympic Games Silver medalist, Korean Seung Mo Shon, in the first round of the German Open.

Anup, who just a few days earlier had captained India to a fifth place finish in the Thomas Cup Asia round in Vietnam, lost to Seung, who was part of the Korean team that finished second in the same tournament. Seung eventually went on to reach the semi-finals.

Anup's next tournament is the Yonex All England Super Series 2008 which begins from today. He is the only Indian male in the main draw and plays World No. 1, Lin Dan, in the first round tomorrow. The two have met twice before – 2007 German Open and 2007 World Championships – with Lin Dan winning both.

Tricky start for holder Lin Dan at All England champs’ - Reuters