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M R Arjun, Dhruv Kapila, Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki (Image Credit: Twitter)
The ongoing edition of the BWF World Championships started on August 22 in Tokyo. Talking about the Indian contingent, the Men's pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila advanced to the pre-quarterfinals. The unseeded pair beat eighth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-17, 21-16 in their second-round match.
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The Indian pair will face Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terry and Loh Kean Hean next. On the other hand, the women's pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy crashed out of the tournament. They lost to China's top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan by 15-21, 10-21. Another women's pair of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh was also eliminated from the tournament.
They lost to third seeds Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan of Korea by 15-21, 7-21. However, not all was bad for the women players. Saina Nehwal thrashed Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi by 21-19 21-9 in the opening round. Notably, she moved into the pre-quarterfinals after Nozomi Okuhara pulled out of the tournament due to an injury, giving the India player, a bye.
The women's pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made a winning start. They decimated the Malaysian pair of Yeen Yuan Low and Valeree Siow by 21-11 21-13. Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam also reached the second round after beating the Italian duo of Martina Corsini and Judith Mair 21-8 21-14. On the other hand, mixed doubles pair of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan crashed out. They lost to England's Gregory Mairs and Jenny Moore by 10-21 21-23.
Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and HS Prannoy started their campaigns with wins
India's top three players - Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and HS Prannoy started their campaigns with a win in the singles category. Sen played Danish's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus and beat the latter by 21-12, and 21-11. On the other hand, Srikanth had to break a sweat in the win over Nhat Nguyen of Ireland. The scorecard read 22-20, 21-19 in the favor of Srikanth.