Lee Chong Wei stunned in first round, easy victory for Sindhu
Unseeded Frenchman Leverdez beats secondseeded Malaysian in three games
GLASGOW: France’s Brice Leverdez pulled off the first shock of the World Badminton Championships by defeating men’s second seed Lee Chong Wei in three games in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old claimed the scalp of his career 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 in 75 minutes and perhaps end Lee’s elusive search for the world title which has seen him take three silver medals just as he has done in the Olympics. “I’m really happy,” he said. “I managed to stay relaxed and played my own game.”
Leverdez had two match points in the second game -- 20-21 and 21-22 -- and it was only a successful hawk eye challenge on the second match point that saved Lee from a straight games exit. In the decider, the 34-yearold Malaysian led 15-10 -- but the Frenchman wouldn’t give in.
“I knew I was in trouble, but I never gave up,” said Leverdez. For Lee it was another chance gone. “I tried my best and he got lucky on a few points,” said Lee, whose fourth win in the All-England Open this year suggested he was still capable of ending his world title drought. “I’m very disappointed.”
PV SINDHU, PRANEETH ADVANCE
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu advanced to the prequarterfinals of the women’s singles competition after defeating Korea’s Kim Hyo Min in the second round. Sindhu, who twice won bronze medals at the 2013 and 2014 editions, notched up a 21-16 21-14 win over Kim in a 49-minute match, to extend her head-to-head record against the Korean to 4-1 in five meetings.
The 22-year-old, who received a bye in the opening round, will face either Russian’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya or Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi, 13th seed, in the next round. Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth also made a positive start to his cam- paign, registering a straightgame win over Hong Kong’s Wei Nan to reach the second round of men’s singles event.
Praneeth, seeded 15th, fought back from 5-9 and 14-16 in the opening game and then erased a deficit of 10-13 and 15-17 in the second game to eventually see off Wei Nan 21-18 21-17 in a 48-minute match. The 25-year-old from Hyderabad will next take on Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who is the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic and World Junior Championships boys’ singles bronze medallist.
“I was expecting a tough match. I changed my game but the match was getting close. He made some small mistakes and I won. I am happy that I could pull off the match today as I know this is a tough match. Tomorrow it would be another difficult match and I hope I can win,” Praneeth told PTI.
India’s top mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy defeated Indo-Malaysian combo of Prajakta Sawant and Yogendran Khrishnan 21-12 21-19. B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Maneesha K suffered contrasting losses to bow out of the event.
I’m really happy. I managed to stay relaxed and played my own game. I knew I was in trouble, but I never gave up. BRICE LEVERDEZ, French player I was expecting a tough match. I changed my game but the match was getting close. He made some small mistakes and I won. B SAI PRANEETH, India player