Prannoy, Sameer cruise into second round with ease
NANJING, CHINA: India’s HS Prannoy advanced to the second round of the Badminton World Championship by thrashing New Zealand’s Abhinav Manota in straight games on Monday.
Prannoy, seeded 11th in the tournament, hardly broke sweat in cruising past the unseeded New Zealander 21-12, 21-11 in a match that lasted 28 minutes. He will next take on Brazilian Ygor Coelho in the second round.
Sameer Verma dumped France’s Lucas Corvee 21-13 21-10 to progress to the second round. There was good news from the doubles shuttlers too, as the men’s duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also advanced to the second round.
While Manu and Sumeeth defeated Bulgarian pair Daniel Nikolov and Ivan Rusev 21-13, 21-18 in the 26-minute affair, the mixed doubles combo of Pranaav and Sikki comfortably went past the Czech Republic duo of Jakub Bitman and Alzbeta Basova 21-17, 21-15 in a 30-minute tie.
However, it was curtains for the women’s doubles pair of Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant, who lost their opening round clash 20-22, 14-21 to Turkey’s Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci in 34 minutes.
THIRDSEEDED SHI YUQI BEAT ADAM MENDREK 2113, 2111 IN OPENING MATCH. SHI HAS THE HIGHEST SEEDING OF ANY OF THE CHINESE
AXELSEN OPENS WITH DOMINATING WIN
World champion Viktor Axelsen has begun his title defence with a dominating 21-8, 21-7 win over Duarte Anjo.
Axelsen controlled the match throughout Monday, taking an early lead in both games before winning 12 of the last 13 points to advance.
Despite being hampered by injuries early in the season, Axelsen won the European Championship in April and appears to be in the kind of form that last year helped him become the first European in 20 years to win the world title.
CHINESE STARS IMPRESSIVE
Third-seeded Shi Yuqi beat Adam Mendrek of Czech Republic 21-13, 21-11 in his opening match. Shi, who won the All England earlier this year, has the highest seeding of any of the Chinese men.
Chinese superstar Lin Dan rolled back the years and made a fast start to his challenge.
The 34-year-old is seeking a sixth world title.
In front of a partisan crowd in Nanjing, “Super Dan” made light work of Dutchman Mark Caljouw, winning 21-14, 21-14.
No 2-ranked Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia withdrew from the world championships and the upcoming Asian Games as he due to a respiratory problem.