BWF World Championship 2022 | HS Prannoy stuns two-time champion Kento Momota, Kapila/Arjun win too
In a major upset at the BWF World Championship, the unseeded Indian men's doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila beat world no. 8 team of Kim Astrup & Anders Rasmussen from Denmark 21-17, 21-16. On the other hand, HS Prannoy ousted two-time champion Kento Momota of Japan in straight games.
In a dominant show, the world no.35 pair of Arjun and Kapila did not give any chance to their opponents, to play their game. This will be their first pre-quarters appearance in the biggest badminton event. The Indian pair also has a decent chance to make it to the quarters, as they will be up against the world no. 41 pair from Singapore, who had won a bronze medal at the CWG 2022.Â
Meanwhile, it was not a great showing by the Indian women's doubles pairs as the teams of Ashwini Ponnappa/ Sikki Reddy and Pooja Dandu/ Santosh lost their respective matches. Sikki and Ponnappa lost to world no.1 Chinese pair of Chen Quing Chen-Jia Yi Fan in straight games 21-15, 21-10. On the other hand, Dandu and Santosh lost against Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan 21-15,21-7.
India's best bet for women's doubles, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly are still alive in the competition and will take on world no.10 Malaysian pair of Tan and Thinaah. It is noteworthy, that the Indian team had lost both their matches against the Malaysians at the CWG 2022.Â
As far as singles action is concerned, last year's finalist Kidambi Srikanth has been knocked out by China's Zhao JP 21-9, 21-17. Lakshya Sen has made it to the next round though, after a win over Spain's Penalver LP 21-17, 21-10. Also, HS Prannoy got the better of the former world no.2 Kento Momota of Japan 21-17, 21-16. In the next round, he will face Sen on Thursday.Â