After a good day for the Indian shuttlers in Huelva, second round action continues at the BWF World Championships on Wednesday with HS Prannoy looking to join Srikanth Kidambi and Lakshya Sen in the men’s singles round of 16 lineup.
BWF World Championships, day 3 as it happened: Sindhu, Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag and Srikanth win
Except one defeat in the mixed doubles, India enjoyed a brilliant day on Tuesday. PV Sindhu began her title defence with a breezy, expected win while Srikanth, Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty progressed after thrillers.
On Wednesday, Prannoy will look to put three Indian names in the final 16 of an increasingly open men’s singles field. Prannoy, after defeating the eighth seed Ng Ka Long Angus in the first round, will take on Malaysian veteran Daren Liew in what will be a battle of former top 10 players. Liew, 34, has been as high as 10th in the world (back in 2013) and is currently ranked 36, four places below Prannoy. This will be their ninth meeting, the first happening as far back as 2012. Prannoy has a 5-3 record overall and won their last two meetings, including in Bali recently.
In men’s doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, a pair who has been impressing with their performances without the results to show for it in tournaments, take on Russian veterans Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov. The 11th seeds have won the sole previous encounter against the Indians which came at the Swiss Open earlier this year. The Russians will be playing their first match of the tournament after a bye in the opening round.
It will also be the first match for Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy and their opponents Liu Xuan Xuan and Xia Yu Ting in women’s doubles. While the 14th seeds were to have a first-round bye, the Indians received a walkover. There is only one place separating the two pairs on the world rankings (India: 20, China: 21) but the Indians have been playing more on tour.
