BWF World Championships 2023: HS Prannoy Marches Into Round 3, Lakshya Sen Also Through; PV Sindhu Crashes Out

India’s top-ranked men’s singles shuttler HS Prannoy marched into round 3 of the BWF World Cup Championship 2023 to cap off what turned out to be a mixed day for Indians.

Prannoy defeated Indonesia’s Chico Aura DWI Wardoyo in straight sets, picking up a 21-9, 21-14 win in 36 minutes on Tuesday, August 22. The BWF world number 9 ranked shuttler advanced into the pre-quarterfinal round, and he will be joined by his compatriot Lakshya Sen in the next stage however, PV Sindhu crashed out of the tournament after suffering a huge upset.

The two-time Olympic medalist was ousted by Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in straight sets 21-14, 21-14, marking the first time Sindhu failed to reach the quarterfinals in the World Championships.

Prannoy won the most consecutive points (6) won a total of 42 rallies and secured 42 points to pick up an easy win.

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Prannoy will lock horns with with 2021 champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the next round.

Earlier, Sen, a bronze medallist at the 2021 edition, prevailed 21-11 21-12 over the world No 51 Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin.

The Indian, thus, settled his score against the Korean, who had defeated him in their only meeting at the Asia Team Championship in 2022.

The 11th seeded Indian is likely to face third seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand in the next round.

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Sen has a 4-5 head-to-head count against Vitidsarn, whom he had defeated on way to Canada Open Super 500 title.

In the other men’s singles match, Prannoy used variations to keep up the attack from the back. He used lot of angled returns to move to 8-4 after 4-4 initial duel. In a battle of wits, Prannoy looked in control and was quick to pounce on anything near the net.

The Indian showed great anticipation and composure to gallop to 18-8 with Wardoyo making too many mistakes. A forehand going to the net gave 11 game points to Prannoy and he sealed it without much ado.

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Prannoy unleashed perfect shots to completely dictate the rallies. Hordoyo tried to turned it around in the second game and even had a 5-4 lead but Prannoy remained composed, slowly moving ahead to grab a 11-7 lead at the break.

Wardoyo managed to claw back at 13-13 but Prannoy once again nosed ahead to 16-13 with a forehand cross court shot and a smash.

The Indian was in sublime touch as he read his opponent well and used his array of shots to set up the points.

Eventually, a lucky net chord gave Prannpy six match points and he sealed it when his opponent went to net.

With inputs from PTI