Summary:

  • Satwik-Chirag defeated the All England champions Maulana-Fikri in straight games 14-21, 16-21. They now take on reigning world champions Chia-Soh, a pair they are yet to defeat in six previous meetings (including the recent world championships semifinal).
  • Lakshya Sen defeated HS Prannoy after a breezy first game and a brilliant second game 21-9, 21-18. He will now face a familiar foe from junior days in Kodai Naraoka [Japan], the man who defeated him in the quarterfinals of the 2017 junior World championships. Lakshya got one over him at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in the semifinals.
  • Srikanth Kidambi was outplayed (for the most part) by Loh Kean Yew in a rematch of the 2021 World Championships final.
  • End of the campaign also for Gayatri-Treesa and Tanisha-Ishaan.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 18-20 Lakshya Sen: SEN WIN! A fabulous second game between the two Indians and it ends with Lakshya defeating Prannoy in straight games 21-9, 21-18. A familiar hug at the end.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 18-20 Lakshya Sen: What a point! Brilliant rally again from both players and one that Prannoy actually dictated before another reflex push to the backcourt by Lakshya lands in! Match points.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 17-19 Lakshya Sen: Another mini ‘come on’ from Lakshya as he nails a lovely down the line winner. Repeats it after a fabulous crosscourt winner.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 17-17 Lakshya Sen: And back level, with Prannoy reading a flick serve well and nailing the return. And with a superb shot at the net, he retakes the lead. That is followed by the first vocal display of aggression by Lakshya.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 15-15 Lakshya Sen: Ah, that could be costly. A good service return from Prannoy and he has a nice chance to kill the rally but the crosscourt is wild. And then lets out a huge roar again after winning the net point. He knows this is a critical point in the match. We are level again.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 13-13 Lakshya Sen: A brilliant point at 11-11, the sort I imagine Indian fans would have loved to watch on a proper stream / broadcast. Lakshya wins it with a superb lift to the backcourt after a fantastic exchange. Prannoy with the loudest roar yet after he wins the next point. Makes it 13-13 with two good crosscourt shots either way. Lovely set up.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 11-10 Lakshya Sen: A reflex block from Lakshya goes long and the next point will decide who has the lead at interval... and it is another shot that sails long. The sort of error Prannoy made early in game 1, perhaps the drift playing its part now too.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 9-9 Lakshya Sen: A This is the quality we thought this would be played at. Fabulous stuff at the start of game 2. Prannoy makes it 9-9 after another brilliant rally that ends with an anticlimactic error. Lakshya did so well defensively in that point, and Prannoy’s angles were class.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 7-9 Lakshya Sen: A slightly louder rallying call from PRannoy as he plays a lovely backhand at the net to catch Lakshya. Another superb rally follows and Lakshya wins that point. Great battle, this at the moment.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 5-7 Lakshya Sen: An absolutely fabulous rally at 5-5 from both players, showing great defensive skills at different points, but it ends with a mishit smash by HSP. Lakshya kills it well at the net to sneak ahead again.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 5-5 Lakshya Sen: A quiet fist pump there from Prannoy as he levels things up after a good rally ends with a wild crosscourt from Lakshya. The veteran then takes the lead only for the 2nd time in the match. Lakshya levels it up with a body smash.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 3-4 Lakshya Sen: Uff, brilliant crosscourt clear from Lakshya Sen to catch Prannoy short. Makes an error next point, Prannoy in touching distance for now.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21, 1-3 Lakshya Sen: Lakshya Sen bosses the opening game to take the lead. Two of their four meetings on tour have gone the distance. Prannoy will need a good start from the near side to get some momentum going. A fabulous rally from both players at 1-1, Prannoy thinks Sen’s clear has gone long but it is called in.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 9-21 Lakshya Sen: Precise smash from Lakshya, wrong-footing Prannoy and he converts the 2nd game point to take the opening game comfortably 21-9.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 8-19 Lakshya Sen: Possibly a good confidence booster for Prannoy going into the 2nd game, a lovely rally goes the senior player’s way.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 7-19 Lakshya Sen: Prannoy seems to be waiting for the second game and perhaps a move to the near side now.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 6-17 Lakshya Sen: Prannoy gets the serve back, but this opening game seems like a done deal.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 5-15 Lakshya Sen: A stunning diving forehand block by Lakshya Sen and two shots later, Prannoy finds the net. All Lakshya at the moment.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 3-11 Lakshya Sen: Apart from his trouble with length, HSP’s radar also misfiring. With a lovely precise smash, Lakshya takes a big lead into the interval. (And once again, the two players are without coaching assistance this match).

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 3-8 Lakshya Sen: A wonderful crosscourt winner at the net by Lakshya.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 3-6 Lakshya Sen: HSP has a look upstairs mid-rally, a bit unsure about his lengths in the early stages. The first real long rally of the match goes Prannoy’s way.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 1-5 Lakshya Sen: Here we go then, Prannoy in a nice and bright yellow shirt vs Lakshya in his white and black. Match underway in Odense. Lovely start from Lakshya, who is playing from the near side. Prannoy sending the shuttle long with his clears on a few occasions already.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: The players are on court warming up.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: The two have faced each other elsewhere of course, but on the senior international circuit, all their meetings have come in 2022. Lakshya won the first 2, Prannoy won the last 2.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: Time for Lakshya vs HSP to start.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: This should be starting soon given Chochuwong is in a hurry.

Men’s singles: A personal takeaway. It is quite incredible how difficult BWF makes it sometimes for the sport to be followed. Where is the common sense applied to their scheduling and making streams available?

Men’s singles: Prannoy vs Lakshya coming up in this order. He Bing Jiao is now in action in a decider.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 21-15 Kidambi Srikanth: And in a blink of the eye, it’s over. A service return error from Srikanth and Loh closes it out. When the Indian found his rhythm, the damage was already done.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 19-15 Kidambi Srikanth: Ah there we go. Loh gets the serve back with a smash and then comes up with a stunning defensive point to steal a point from Sri. Amazing.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 17-15 Kidambi Srikanth: A remarkable run this! 7 straight points! It’s a 2-point game now. But a brief break in play to wipe the courts... wonder if that will impact.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 17-13 Kidambi Srikanth: A superb phase for Srikanth, great pace to his game, great precision at the net... and more vocal aggression.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 17-10 Kidambi Srikanth: A rare display of vocal aggression from Srikanth as he wins a rally on good defence. Another great point at the net from the Indian, another roar.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 16-6 Kidambi Srikanth: Super service return from winner from Sri. But he can’t hold he serve too long.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 15-4 Kidambi Srikanth: Sensational defence from Loh in the rare occasion Sri does up the pace and attack. Not much one can do when the Singaporean is in that mode. Two bad errors from Srikanth after that and this is turning into a rout.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 11-3 Kidambi Srikanth: Srikanth just not able to keep pace with Loh’s shuttle speed and court movement at the moment. Constantly on the backfoot and is unable to make Loh react.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13, 6-2 Kidambi Srikanth: Srikanth with a rare chance to show his skill at the net and it still goes Loh’s way. It’s all Singapore right now.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 21-13 Kidambi Srikanth: Superb response from the 2021 World Champion after Srikanth made a good start to the match. Dominated the 2nd half, takes it 21-13. Not quite Huelva levels from Loh, but not far away.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 19-12 Kidambi Srikanth: Loh Kean Yew dictating everything at the moment... but Sri gets the serve with a rare piece of attacking play.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 14-10 Kidambi Srikanth: Loh’s run ends with 5 straight points as he sends a lift long. But gets the serve right back with the same error from Srikanth. Opens up a bigger lead with a superb body smash.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 11-9 Kidambi Srikanth: Loh reels of four straight points, Srikanth constantly on the defensive with the Singaporean’s attack gaining heat.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 9-9 Kidambi Srikanth: Loh showing he is no slouch at the net either (just not his strongest point) with two lovely points to level things up.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 7-8 Kidambi Srikanth: In typical Srikanth style, he plays a stunning net shot, has Loh in trouble with a loose lift but sends the smash well side. That said, the Indian is indeed having joy from the front court exchanges here, though Loh is reading better now.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 4-6 Kidambi Srikanth: Incredible reverse slice from Loh. TTY-esque.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 2-6 Kidambi Srikanth: In Huelva we saw a lot of nice exchanges at the net that Srikanth won, when he had his best moments it was with his net play. Imagine it would be a similar ploy here. And he has opened up a nice lead already.

Men’s singles, Loh Kean Yew 0-4 Kidambi Srikanth: Loh has opted to start from the near side, which I believe is the harder side, perhaps hoping to finish on the easier side. Good start from the Indian, nice control.

Men’s singles: Loh Kean Yew vs Kidambi Srikanth, time for the 2021 World Championships final rematch!

Mixed doubles: Cruel twist of fate. In a match where Zheng struggled to impress the service judge with his serves, Chinese pair wins on a service error from their opponents who had done so well to save match points.

Time now for Srikanth vs Loh.

A pertinent video:

Play

BWF World Junior Mixed Team C’ships: 9-16 group India lose 3-1 against Malaysia at the start of the 9-16 classification. Anupama Upadhyaya with the sole win. They’ll face Germany next for 13-16 places.

Mixed doubles: Mikkel MIKKELSEN and Rikke SØBY of Denmark have taken it to a decider against the world champions. Srikanth and Loh have to wait.

Update from Santander: Indonesian juniors defeat China in the BWF World Junior Mixed Team C’ships top 8 knockout clash.

Mixed doubles: The Chinese juggernaut of ZHENG Si Wei and HUANG Ya Qiong take on Mikkel MIKKELSEN and Rikke SØBY of Denmark. Srikanth vs Loh to follow this.

Women’ singles: Thought with the break and all, this might be the first tournament where we see the best of Marin. But she bows out in straight games vs Han Yue. Never looked in rhythm but still closed the gap down both games. Still seems bit rusty.

Read Shlok Ramchandran’s column, Shuttle Zone.

In case you missed it on Wednesday:

BWF World Junior Mixed Team C’ships: 9-16 classification group IND 1-1 MAS Over in Santander, Ayush Shetty goes the distance in men’s singles, and then Anupama takes the women’s singles tie in straight games to keep things level 1-1 in this tie.

Still to come for India: Srikanth Kidambi vs Loh Kean Yew (Two matches later on TV court), HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen (four matches later on Court 2).

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 21-13 Treesa/Gayatri: Good fight from the Indians in the opening game but the second game showed the work to be done. A good experience nevertheless, and they continue to show signs of competing at a high level. Consistency will be key from here on,

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 20-12 Treesa/Gayatri: Match points galore for the Thai pair.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 19-12 Treesa/Gayatri: Better rallies here but the Indian shoulders have dropped.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 17-10 Treesa/Gayatri: And the Indians have gotten to double digits. Better since the break.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 14-6 Treesa/Gayatri: A long-ish rally, goes the Indians’ way, that’s a min win.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 11-3 Treesa/Gayatri: A tough task already has gotten tougher. Big lead for the Thailand pair. Seems to be some stern words from Boe at the break.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21, 6-0 Treesa/Gayatri: And as it so often happens at the end of a tight opening game where the lower-ranked player/pair miss out on chances, the higher-ranked side take a big early lead in the 2nd.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 23-21 Treesa/Gayatri: Game 1, Thailand. That was thrill-a-minute towards the back-end. The Thai pair catch Treesa off balance and close the point out.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 22-21 Treesa/Gayatri: Ah, that’s a shame. Treesa got a bit too eager with her backhand at the net, error and we are level again. Another fabulous rally follows and Treesa is drawn to the net and drawn to an error. Sixth seeds showing why they are the sixth seeds.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 20-21 Treesa/Gayatri: A bigger roar now from Treesa! Great point at the net by the Indians and they have a game point.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 20-20 Treesa/Gayatri: A huge roar from Treesa as she does well from the back court before an error from Thai. EXTRA POINTS!

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 20-19 Treesa/Gayatri: A fine service return winner by Gayatri to get the serve back for the Indians. Lengthy rally follows and all four players do superbly before the error comes from Treesa. Next point, she makes amends with a fantastic crosscourt winner to save a game point.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 18-17 Treesa/Gayatri: Another point that Treesa should have won for India after a lovely set up by Gayatri. Misses the net shot. Gayatri does well next point to induce the error and get the serve back. Still in this, the Indians.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 17-15 Treesa/Gayatri: A sharp service return from Treesa to get the serve back. Need a run of points here.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 17-14 Treesa/Gayatri: Another brilliant rally, and the key to women’s doubles often is who wins these marathon points. This one too goes the way of Thailand.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 15-14 Treesa/Gayatri: Ah, a big chance for Treesa to kill the rally and make it 14-14 but she gets the smash wrong and it is another small lead for THA. Fine margins eh? Treesa makes amends with a lovely precise smash next up.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 11-11 Treesa/Gayatri: And the Indians level thing up after the break.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 11-9 Treesa/Gayatri: A slender lead for the Thai pair at the interval. But this is evenly contested still.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 6-6 Treesa/Gayatri: A fabulous marathon rally at 6-5 India and it ends with a delightful touch from Prajongjai that catches Gayatri shot.

Women’s doubles, Kititharakul/Prajongjai 3-5 Treesa/Gayatri: A good little start by the Indians. This is their third meeting, by the way. And the Thai pair won previously twice.

Up next, sixth seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai vs Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 16-21, 10-21 Watanabe/Higashino: The Indians couldn’t find enough consistency in the 2nd game, a few good rallies but the Japanese pair ease through. A good experience for the Indian youngsters.

Here’s how the 2nd game panned out:

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 16-21, 10-18 Watanabe/Higashino: Tanisha misses the sideline after a good defensive point by Ishaan.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 16-21, 7-15 Watanabe/Higashino: Tanisha with an apology as she smacks one on Watanabe’s body. A good rally follows, that the Indians won. Can they close this gap down further?

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 16-21, 4-11 Watanabe/Higashino: The Indians, under scoreboard pressure now, trying to do some fancy stuff but not coming off. A big lead for the second seeds.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 16-21, 4-7 Watanabe/Higashino: The Japanese pair do tend to get better as the match goes on... and they have a handy lead early in game 2.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 16-21 Watanabe/Higashino: That is a game that Ishaan/Tanisha can actually be proud of. The 2nd seeds however take the deserving lead.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 15-18 Watanabe/Higashino: This is a good little phase for the Indians on Tanisha’s serve.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 12-18 Watanabe/Higashino: Tanisha with a lovely point at the net. The Indians get a taste of how good Higashino’s defence is, but after a few smashes, Tanisha with a deft touch at net to win a point. Another good rally follows but that goes the JPN pair’s way.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 10-15 Watanabe/Higashino: The Indians came out firing after the interval with a couple of nice points. Well, Tanisha is still fired up as she almost always is. They are playing well but some errors are widening the gap.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 6-11 Watanabe/Higashino: That’s a little flick of switch there from the second seeds and they take a handy lead into the mid-game interval with five straight points. Some classic cross court brilliance from Watanabe in that run.

Mixed doubles, Tanisha/Ishaan 6-6 Watanabe/Higashino: The Japan duo do tend to start slow sometimes. Even start to this match.

Mixed doubles: The action keeps coming on court 2 for the Indians. Next up, the exciting young Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto / Ishaan Bhatnagar vs the always entertaining world No 2 from Jaoan Yuta Watanabe / Arisa Higashino

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 16-21 Satwik/Chirag: That escalated quickly towards the end! Fabulous change of gears from the Indians and they win this in straight games to reach the quarterfinals. The All England champions have been defeated twice now by the Indians. A fist pump and quick at the end for the Indian duo.

Here’s how the rollercoaster second game panned out.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 16-20 Satwik/Chirag: There is a superb change of momentum once again and out of nowhere, a big led for Indians. Match points, four of them.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 15-17 Satwik/Chirag: Top flick serve by Chirag and for the first time in a while, breathing room for Indians.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 15-15 Satwik/Chirag: Terrific touch from Chirag at the net but the point goes to the Indonesians.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 14-15 Satwik/Chirag: The Indians retake the lead briefly in this game, the Indonesians take it back, and now we are all level. Can’t take your eyes off this, every rally feels like an important event. Oh, as I type that, a lovely rally gives the Indians the lead again

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 11-10 Satwik/Chirag: The Indians make it 10-10 but the All England champs have the lead going into the interval. Quick word from Mathias Boe, unfortunately no way for us to know what he said.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 10-9 Satwik/Chirag: How the Indians deal with this good phase for Fikri/Maulana could well determine the course of this match. Satwik-Chirag not happy with a line call on a service return there.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21, 4-4 Satwik/Chirag: Ha, terrific defence from Chirag to stay in the point and the Indians turn it around in the rally. The Indonesians started the game well but all level now after 8 point.s

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21 Satwik/Chirag: Here’s how the opening game panned out.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-21 Satwik/Chirag: A bagful of game points for the Indians and they recover after a poor serve from Satwik to get into a rally and close it out at the first time of asking. Lovely stuff from the 7th seeds.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 14-19 Satwik/Chirag: A service error from Chirag. And then Bagas with another soft error. Quality dipped in the last few rallies. But the Indians have a big lead.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 13-17 Satwik/Chirag: A hat-trick of errors from Satwik, then from the Indonesian side, then Chirag.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 11-15 Satwik/Chirag: And from that point, a good little run on Chirag’s serve as Boe applauds from the background.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 11-12 Satwik/Chirag: A very clever change of pace from Satwik-Chirag after three straight points for the Indonesians post interval. The momentum was with them but the Indians took pace off the shuttle to end that mini run.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 8-11 Satwik/Chirag: A 11-8 lead for Satwik-Chirag in the opening game. But it is a close, superbly contested affair so far.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 8-10 Satwik/Chirag: A couple of times there that Satwik wound up for big smashes, but great defence from the Indonesians. They win the next point too after a brilliant flat exchange and close the lead from 5 to 2.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana 4-6 Satwik/Chirag: As expected, a fast and furious start to this match. Super fast rallies, flat exchanges. A slender lead for the Indians.

Men’s doubles, Fikri/Maulana - Satwik/Chirag: All England champions from earlier this year Bagas Maulana-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri from Indonesia await Satwik-Chirag in a tasty contest. The Indians won their sole previous meeting, shortly after the All England triumph for the Indonesian duo at Swiss Open. It went the distance.

Men’s doubles: A big win for Ching/Po, their first in six meetings against the legendary Daddies. And now it is time for Satwik-Chirag on Court 2.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of badminton, as action continues at the Denmark Open Super 750 event. It’s a packed Thursday for Indian shuttlers, with five matches to look forward to and one of those an all-India clash.

Srikanth Kidambi and Loh Kean Yew is the match on TV court today, a rematch of the 2021 World Championship final. Srikanth finished second then behind the history-making Singaporean.

Also on the cards today, is a fifth battle this year between HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen (2-2).

In mixed doubles, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto face a big test (but an exciting one) against Watanabe/Higashino as reward for their big win against world No 15 pair late last night.

In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the only seeded entry from India, take on All England champions Maulana and Fikri.

Screenshots in the blog courtesy BWF / Viacom 18 / Tournament Software