World Badminton Championships 2017: Good day for Ajay & co but mixed results from doubles

PV SINDHU, Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram got off to flying starts at the World Badminton Championship registering straight games victory at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Tuesday.

World No.5 PV Sindhu beat Kim Hyo Min of Korea 21-16, 21-14 in 49 minutes to cruise into the pre-quarters. The fourth seeded started off aggressively winning eight points on the trot. Min tried to stop the onslaught but could do little as Sindhu went into the break at 11-5. World No.44 Korean tried her best to reduce the gap, but could do little to stop the juggernaut as Sindhu strolled won the opening game 21-16. 

After the change of ends, the 22-year-old started from where she left and cruised to win the second game 21-14.

“It was a good match and I was happy with the way I played. I think after Rio Olympics, I am better prepared for big events than before,” an elated Sindhu said after the match.

The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist will be up against the winner of the match between Cheung Ngan Yi of Taipei and Evgeniya Kosetskaya in her next round.

World No. 19 Praneeth taking on World No.44 Wei Nan of Hong Kong started off slowly and was finding it difficult initially and at one point of time was trailing 5-9. But the 25-year-old Indian kept his cool and got into the groove to take the challenge to his opponent. With the both the players tied 18-18; Sai took three consecutive points to wrap up the opening game. 

The second game was also closely contested and with scores leveled at 17-17, the 15th seeded Indian won four straight points to seal the game and the match 21-18, 21-17 in 48 minutes to set up a second round clash against Anthony Ginting of Indonesia in the men’s singles competition.

“I was finding it difficult initially as he was playing very fast, but slowly adjusted to his pace,” Praneeth said after the match. “I must admit that I was little under pressure coming into the match as there is a lot expected from us and everyone follows badminton these days,” he further added.

Ajay Jayaram, seeded 13th also eased into the second round after posting a convincing 21-14, 21-12 win against Luka Wraber of Austria. He will face Mark Caljouw of Netherlands in next round. 

The mixed double pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, seeded 15th who got a bye in the first round booked their pre-quarterfinal slot after beating Indo-Malaysian pair of Yogendran Khrishnan and Prajakta Sawant 21-15, 21-19. They will now take on the Indonesian pair of Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto in the next round.

However, it was curtains for the other mixed doubles pairs of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ K Maneesha and Ashwini Ponnappa/ B Sumeeth Reddy. 

Satwik and Maneesha lost 20-22, 18-21 to Danish duo of Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen, while Ashwini and Sumeeth went down to Chinese pair of Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 17-21, 21-18, 5-21.

Poorvisha Ram/Jakkampudi went down fighting against Selena Piek/Eefje Muskens 21-13, 16-21, 8-21.

Shlok Ramchandran /Arjun MR too went down fighting against Liao /Cheng 14-21 21-19 14-21. 

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