Tokyo: Malayali star H.S. Prannoy in the pre-quarter finals of the World Badminton Championship with a huge coup. In the men’s category, Prannoy defeated world number two player Kento Momota of Japan in the second round. Score: 21-17, 21-16.
For the first time in the eight times that they have faced each other, Prannoy has defeated Momota. The Thiruvananthapuram man has managed to win only one game in eight matches so far. Prannoy’s win over the two-time world champion from Japan was the highlight of the World Championship. Momoto is the second seed in the championship. Prannoy is the 18th seed. Prannoy has defeated superstars like Lin Dan, Taufiq Hidayat, Chen Long and Leechong Wei in his career. Prannoy will face India’s young player Lakshya Sen in the pre-quarters on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games winner and youngster Lakshya Sen reached the pre-quarters by beating Spain’s Luis Penalver 21-17, 21-10 in the second round. They trailed 3-4 in the first game, but then rallied to 13-7. Finally the game was won 21-17. Ninth seed Lakshya cruised to an easy win after leveling the second game at 6-6. Meanwhile, the current runner-up, India’s K. Srikanth is out of the championship.
China’s Zhao Jun Peng defeated Srikanth in straight sets in the second round. Score: 21-18, 21-17. World number 13 Srikanth was defeated by world number 32 Zhao within 34 minutes. Srikanth lost the first game within 12 minutes. The Indian attempted a comeback in the second game. At one stage he was leading 16-14 but Srikanth’s mistakes earned his opponent points.
In men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty-Satwiksai Raj Ranki Reddy and MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapalia reached the pre-quarters. Chirag and Satvik defeated Guatemala’s Solis Jonathan and Anibal Marroquin (21-8, 21-10). Arjun and Dhruv beat Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen pair (21-17, 21-16). India’s Ashwani Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy, Tresa Joly-Gayatri Gopichand, Pooja Dand-Sanjana Santhosh were eliminated in women’s doubles.