On Tuesday, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and HS Prannoy easily advanced to the second round of the men’s singles competition at the BWF Badminton World Championships in Tokyo.
The women’s doubles pairs of Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy, Pooja Dandu/Sanjana Santosh, the men’s pair of MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila, and the mixed combo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto will join them in the second round.
Sai Praneeth, the 2019 competition’s bronze medalist, was defeated by fourth-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 21-15, 15-21.
Prannoy defeated Austrian Luka Wraber 21-12, 21-11 with ease. Despite winning all three games in a row, Prannoy admitted that he felt uneasy at first. “I was a little anxious and the start was really rusty. After the eleventh point, I relaxed and gained assurance. The opening round went well. I took a lot of shots in the second game. We’ll need a lot of shots to compete against elite players as the tournament progresses “Prannoy stated that his next opponent, Kento Momota, will be the target of his plans.
“The second game was significantly superior. The draw is really challenging. However, as this is a World Championship, you must defeat every other competitor to claim victory. However, having fun is crucial. Tomorrow, I’ll be playing Momota. The game promises to be entertaining. I believe I will need to prepare my strategies for him. I’m moving and playing well. Just need to be in the right frame of mind to defeat him “Prannoy threw in.
