Tokyo: Indian Stalwarts defeated their respective opponents and moved into the next round of BWF World Championships. Lakshya Sen, Srikanth Kidambi, and HS Prannoy slid past HK Vittinghus, Nhat Nguyen, and Luka Wraber respectively. However, Sai Praneeth hit a roadblock and fell down to fourth seed Chou Tien-Chen.
Lakshya Sen put down Danish Thomas Cup winner Hans Kristen Vittinghus in straight sets. Lakshya Sen, who won the Commonwealth Games Gold earlier this month, had an easy squeeze. Sen moved past Viitnghus by winning the first set 21-12. Vittinghus clearly knew he had no hopes. Ssen defeated the Dane with equally forwarding force in the second set, 21-11
H.S Prannoy defeated his opponent in a very similar fashion. 21-12,21-11. Luka Wraber did not stand a chance against the Keralite smasher. However, it was not a breeze for India’s celebrated badminton player. Srikanth Kidambi put up a tough fight as he beat Nhat Nguyen of Ireland.
Nguyen made sure to drain the CWG Bronze medallist Kidambi. Nguyen who is currently ranked 39 pushed Kidambi to an advantage in the first set. Kidambi nevertheless won the first set in a thrilling fashion, 22-20. In the second set, Nguyen was relentless for revenge while Kidambi looked poised to win. In the end, the Indian shuttler came out first defeating the Irish in straight sets, 22-20,21-19.
However, Sai Praneeth had to pack his bags early. Sai Praneeth although put up a good fight, Chou was too good for him. Chou beat Sai 21-15 in the first set. The latter then came back to beat the fourth seed at the same margin. Unfortunately, Sai Praneeth could not emulate his run in the third set as he went down 15-21,21-15,15-21.
H.S Prannoy will meet second seed Kento Momota while Kidambi will try to squeeze through against Zhao GP. On the other hand, Lakshya Sen will meet L. E Penalver. Among other results of the Men’s event, Third seed Anders Antonson and thirteenth seed K Nishikori went down. Top seed Viktor Axelsen, A Ginting, and Lee Zii Jia among others easily passed their inaugural rounds into the second round of the BWF World Championships.
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