B Sai Praneeth failed to cross the opening hurdle after losing in three games but India registered twin wins in women's and mixed doubles competition on the opening day of the BWF World Championships on Monday. (More Badminton News)
Praneeth, a 2019 bronze medallist, put up a brave effort before going down 15-21, 21-15, 15-21 to world No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in little over an hour. It was yet another forgettable outing in Tokyo for Praneeth, following his struggles at last year’s Olympic Games where he participated without a proper coach or physio to eventually bow out early.
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However, former Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy progressed to the women’s doubles second round with a 21-7, 21-9 win over Maldives’ Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq and Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq.
Ashwini and Sikki will face the uphill task of taming top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in the second round. In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar defeated German duo of Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann 21-13, 21-13 in 29 minutes to also make a positive start to their campaign.
The Indian pair will meet 14th seeds Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand next. Last edition's silver and bronze medallists Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, and former world no. 8 HS Prannoy will be among the Indian shuttlers competing later in the day.
