It was day two of the 27th edition of the BWF World Championships at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Our Indian shuttlers continued to bring the action to us. We had the rest of the first round encounters to go through.
First up on court 2 were the Commonwealth Games women’s doubles bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand who took on the Malaysian combination of Low Yean Yuan and Valeree Siow. Their first round encounter needed just the two games to reach the conclusion as the Indian pair sealed the deal with a score of 21-11 21-13.
Up next was the first poster girl of Indian badminton, two time former medalist at the World Championships, Saina Nehwal. She was facing Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi in her first round encounter. The first game was a tight one as both players played equally well but it was Saina who held her nerve to take it 21-19. The second game was much easier for the Indian as she breezed through and won the match 21-19 21-9. She was through to the round of 32, but her opponent Nozomi Okuhara, the 2017 world champion withdrew due to injury. So Saina is now directly through to the round of 16. A step away from the quarter-finals. She will face either Busanan Ongbamrungphan, the Thai player seeded 12th or Germany’s Yvonne Li.
In the mixed doubles, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto were up against the Thai pair of Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran. The Indian pair gave it a good fight but in the end they had to succumb to the force of the Thai pair as they won the match 21-14 21-17.
Out on court 2 it was the men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala who faced the French combo of Fabian Delrue and William Villeger. The French pair saw the Indian pair through in straight games 21-14 21-18.
Next up, on court 4 it was the mixed doubles as Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewagan faced the English combination of Gregory Mairs and Jenny Moore. The English pair emerged victorious as they beat the Indians is straight games 21-10 23-21.
Finally on court 3 we had the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam taking on the Italian pair of Martina Corsini and Judith Mair. The Indians saw the match through in a comfortable way as they beat the Italians in straight games 21-8 21-14.
A big day awaits tomorrow as the second round encounters begin in full swing. Indian shuttlers will be back in action as HS Prannoy takes on Kento Momota, Rankireddy and Shetty play their first match, Lakshya Sen takes on Luis Enrique Penalver and Kidambi Srikanth takes on Zhao Jun Peng.
Image credit: AFP
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