BWF World Championships Roundup | PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, and Kidambi Srikant reach quarter-final as Sai Praneeth bows out
India had a mixed day in the office at the World Badminton Championship as PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, and Kidambi Srikanth booked their places in the quarterfinals, while B. Sai Praneeth was eliminated in the pre-quarters. Mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out.
India's women's shuttlers continued their impressive run in the World Championships as both Nehwal and Sindhu fought their way into the quarterfinals of the tournament after long and grueling games. 22-year-old Sindhu came back from a game down to edge out Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi 19-21 23-21 21-17.
The bronze medalist from the 2013 and 2014 editions came back from 13-16 down in the second game to compensate for her narrow loss in the opening game, before she wrapped up the match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes. She will face fifth seed Sun Yu of China next.
On the other hand, Saina Nehwal had a far more straightforward match as she outfoxed South Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun 21-19 21-15 with ease. The World No. 3 was expected to pose a stiffer challenge to the Indian, but the London Olympics bronze medalist dominated the game from the word go. Nehwal next faces either Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland or China’s He Bingjiao.
In the men's section, Kidambi Srikanth continued his stellar form as the eight seed cruised into the quarterfinals with a convincing 21-14 21-18 win over World No. 18 Anders Antonsen. Srikanth, currently on a 12-match winning streak, was over brimming with confidence during his encounter against the Dane.
The World Number 10, who had his previous two campaigns at the World Championships ended at the pre-quarter final stage, will face current World No. 1, Son Wan Ho from South Korea in the next round. Srikanth has a 4-4 head-to-head record against Son after beating him twice earlier this year, at Indonesia Open and the Australian Open respectively.
However, it wasn't all good news for India on the day as Sai Praneeth was eliminated by World No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei after the Indian went down 21-19 10-21 12-21 in a hard-fought encounter. On the other hand, Ajay Jayaram went down rather tamely to Chen Long of China as the two-time defending champion ousted him 11-21 10-21 in just 41 minutes.
Finally, the 15 seeded mixed doubles pairing of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of the event after a narrow 22-20 18-21 18-21 loss against the Indonesian World Number 6 duo of Debby Susanto and Praveen Jordan.
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