Nanjing (China): PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched up contrasting wins to progress to the pre-quarterfinals but World No.11 HS Prannoy suffered a shock defeat to unheralded Brazilian Ygor Coelho to bow out of the World Badminton Championships here Wednesday.
Sindhu, who had got a bye in the first round, opened her campaign with an easy 21-14, 21-9 win over Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitrani. The 23-year-old Indian will next face Korean Sung Ji Hyun.
Srikanth, seeded fifth, recovered from a slump during the hard-fought contest to see off Spain’s Pablo Abian 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 in a second round match that lasted 62 minutes. He will take on Malaysia’s Daren Liew who beat Israel’s Misha Ziberman 21-16, 21-16.
B Sai Praneeth also entered the next round after defeating Spain’s Luís Enrique Penalver 21-18, 21-11 to set up a meeting with Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
However, Prannoy and Sameer Verma were shown the exit door. Prannoy couldn’t hold on to the momentum after breezing through the opening game to eventually lose 21-8, 16-21, 15-21 to Coelho, ranked 39th in the world. Later, Sameer failed to get across former two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan, losing 17-21, 14-21 in a 45-minute match.
It also turned out to be a disastrous day for the Indian doubles pairs as all of them lost their respective matches to crash out of the prestigious tournament.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did all the hard work but couldn’t go the full distance, losing narrowly 18-21, 21-15, 16-21 to the World No.8 Denmark pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in men’s doubles.
Ashwini Ponnapa and N Sikki Reddy were no match for second seeded Japanese combination of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, going down 14-21, 15-21 in the second round women’s doubles event.
Sindhu dished out a dominating game and was always in control of the match. Her superior court coverage and accuracy in strokes made life difficult for the Indonesian.
In the opening game, Sindhu led 11-7 at the break, before moving to 17-7 with six straight points. She eventually comfortably pocketed the opening game when Fitriani sent the shuttle long.
In the second game, Sindhu continued to surge ahead, moving from 4-5 behind to 8-5 before entering the interval with a 11-5 advantage. The Indian didn’t give Fitriani any chance to make a comeback and quickly wrapped the match when the Indonesia found the net.
At a glance
PV Sindhu bt Fitrani Fitrani 21-14, 21-9
Kidambi Srikanth bt Pablo Abian 21-15, 12-21, 21-14
B Sai Praneeth bt Luís Enrique Penalver 21-18, 21-11
HS Prannoy lost to Ygor Coelho 21-8, 16-21, 15-21
Sameer Verma lost to Lin Dan 17-21, 14-21
