Amrin Siddique, New Delhi
India’s campaign at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi moved into Day 3 with plenty of positives, but it is also a reminder that the competition is only getting tougher.
After a perfect opening day, India finished Day 2 with three wins and three defeats. The day began with a close loss for Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, who went down to Canada’s Jonathan Lai and Crystal Lai after a hard-fought three-game match.
The biggest positive came from Unnati Hooda as she made her World Championships debut in front of the home crowd, and defeated Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar 22-20, 21-16 to move into the Round of 32.
Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh also ended their campaign in the mixed doubles event after the pair fought hard until the last point. The duo was added to the Indian team just a day ahead of the tournament.
India, later, picked up two important wins in women’s doubles and men’s singles. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated Lauren Lam and Allison Lee of the USA to reach the pre-quarterfinals stage, while Lakshya Sen also produced a strong comeback to get past Austria’s Collins Valentine Filimon.
Now the challenge gets bigger as day 3 brings seven Indian matches, including the commencement of World Championship’s campaigns of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The duo received a first round bye and now they will face Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Adam Pringle.
Ayush will also return to court after his stunning opening-round win over defending champion and World No. 1 Shi Yu Qi. The 21-year-old Indian held his nerve in a thrilling decider to pull off one of the biggest wins of his career.
Lakshya will also aim to carry his momentum into the next round, while PV Sindhu begins another important stage of her campaign against Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang. Unnati, on the other hand, will face a much tougher test against 13th seeded Michelle Li.
The day will start with Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto in mixed doubles before H. Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun encounter Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Ki Dong Ju.
India’s matches on Wednesday, August 19:
Mixed Doubles: Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto vs Leong Lok Chong/Ng Weng Chi (Macau)
Men’s Doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan/M.R. Arjun vs Kang Min Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju (Korea)
Women’s Singles: Unnati Hooda vs Michelle Li (Canada)
Men’s Singles: Lakshya Sen vs Garret Tan (USA)
Men’s Singles: Ayush Shetty vs Dumindu Abeywickrama (Sri Lanka)
Women’s Singles: PV Sindhu vs Wen Yu Zhang (Canada)
Men’s Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty vs Alexander Dunn/Adam Pringle (Scotland)
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