Lucknow, Dec 14 : A host of international stars will compete in the Jaypee Cup Syed Modi International Grand Prix badminton, beginning here Tuesday.

Top Indian stars, including Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand, will play in the six-day event, jointly organised by the UP Badminton Association and the state government.

Three times World Champion and former Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia will be participating as a 'guest player', and he will play show matches on Dec 19 and 20.

In all 145 shuttlers, including 35 foreigners, will be vying for top honours in the $50,000 event.

India's Chetan Anand has stormed into the semifinals of the men's singles event of the Macau Open Grand Prix in China after defeating Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in the pre-quarterfinal match on Thursday.

The seventh seeded Chetan ousted Hans in straight sets 21-15 21-15 in just 30 minutes to enter into last 16 of the tournament. Chetan will now play against the winner of match between Huan Gao and world number one Lee Chong Wei in the quarterfinal match.

Indian National Badminton champion Chetan Anand has lost the men's singles finals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Amsterdam on Sunday. Third seed Indonesian Andre K Tedjono defeated him the final. Sixth seed Chetan lost 15-21, 21-11, 19-21 in a 51-minute grueling battle.

India had more disappointment in store as Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas failed to put up a fight and lost in straight games to top seeded pair of Fran Kurniawan and Rendra Wijaya of Indonesia in the men's doubles final.

Here’s a good news for the Indian badminton fans. In the latest badminton rankings, Indian national champion Chetan Anand has reached the 22nd place, up by eight places. 

Last week, in a thrilling tussle Chetan win his maiden Grand Prix title in Bitburger Open badminton tournament at Saarbruecken in Germany. He also won the Czech International title last month and now has a tally of 35750 points in the rankings released yesterday.

It was a moment to cherish for the First Indian Badminton couple Chetan Anand and Jwala Gutta as they won the $50,000, Bitburger Open Grand Prix.The duo created ripples of joy on winning the men' singles and mixed doubles titles.

The Indian contingent was elated as it was the first time in the history of Indian Badminton that two titles were won at the same event. For Chetan it is the beginning of a new chapter as he is the first player in seven years to have won a tournament above the international challenger level and also his fourth title in this year giving him a 5000 ranking points lead.

National Champion Chetan Anand became the first Indian player to win men's singles title in a Grand Prix. In the finals of Bitburger Open in Germany, Chetan (4th seed) defeated fellow player Arvind (7th seed) 23-25, 24-22, 23-21, lasting almost an hour. 

After winning the final, Chetan said, “This is my biggest win till date. It is a four-star Grand Prix event. I didn’t play well in the first game and conceded the advantage to Arvind. Otherwise the game wouldn’t have been this close.”

Chetan was struggling 14-19 in the third game, fought back bravely to prevail.