Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy secure World Championship spot

After a scintillating performance at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games earlier this month, top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy suffered disappointing defeats in the ongoing Asian Badminton Championships. While Nehwal and Prannoy managed to make it to the semi-final stage of their respective categories before being knocked out, Sindhu and World number one Srikanth lost in the quarter-finals matches itself.

However, they will look to bounce back from their Asian heartbreak in the upcoming badminton World Championships, which is set to be held in Nanjing, China from July 30to August 5. Other Indians who managed to book their spot at the Championships include B Sai Praneeth, who is ranked 19th in the BWF rankings list and women’s doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa, who bagged a historic mixed doubles gold at the Gold Coast CWG. Ponnappa’s mixed doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also secured a spot along with his double’s partner, Chirag Shetty.

Meanwhile, national champions B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri also booked their tickets for Nanjing in the same category. Among others, upcoming women's doubles pair of Poorvisha S Ram and J Meghana also qualified as the second-best ranked Indian pair.  As top mixed doubles pair, Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra managed to make it to the final list as well.