Lee sent packing home from Worlds
glasgow — France’s Brice Leverdez pulled off the first shock of the badminton World 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 ended Lee’s elusive search for the world title which has seen him take three silver medals just as he has done in the Olympics.
For Lee it was another chance gone. “I tried my best and he got lucky on a few points. I’m disappointed,” said Lee.
Meanwhile, India’s PV Sindhu, B. Sai Praneeth, Ajay Jayaram and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy advanced but the mixed doubles pairing of B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost in the second round.
Fourth seed Sindhu, a two-time World Championships bronze medallist, moved past South Korean Kim Hyo Min 21-16, 21-14 in 49 minutes.
Praneeth got the better of Hong Kong’s Wei Nan 21-18, 21-17, while Jayaram crushed Austrian Luka Wraber 21-14, 21-12 in 31 minutes.
In the mixed doubles competitions, Sumeeth-Ashwini lost to Chinese 13th seed Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 17-21, 2118, 5-21 in 58 minutes.
The pair of Pranaav and Sikki brushed aside Malaysian Yogendran Khrishnan and Indian Prajakta Sawant 21-12, 21-19 in 40 minutes.
Another mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and K. Maneesha too exited the competition with a 20-22, 18-21 loss to Danish 14th seed Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen. —