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Day three for the Indian shuttlers started on a positive note as 11th seed H.S Prannoy and 3rd seed Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the third round,however there was a bit of a disappointment later on as Parupalli Kashyap and the pair of N.Siki Reddy and Pradnya Gadre faltered in their respective men’s singles and women’s doubles matches. Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar also went down to their respective opponents.
The day finally ended with the comfortable victories for Saina Nehwal in women’s singles, and Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponappa in women’s doubles.
Ranked 12th in the world, H.S Prannoy scraped past the World No. 137 Ugandan shuttler Edwin Ekiring 21-14, 21-19 in a second round match which lasted for 39 minutes. Prannoy,22, was made to work hard by his lower ranked rival before the Indian used all his experience to wrap up the match in his favour and advance to the final sixteen.
He will now take on the World ranked 7 Danish ace Viktor Axelsen for a place in Quarterfinals. This will be the third meeting between these two players, 21-year old Dane has prevailed in both the previous encounters.
In one of the major setbacks of the day, Parupalli Kashyap, who is ranked 10th in the world was upstaged by the World ranked 34 Vietnamese player, Tien Minh Nguyen. In the battle of the experienced, the 32-year old from Vietnam got the better of the 29-year old Indian 21-17, 13-21, 18-21 in a match which was played for over an hour.
The opening game started on an even note for both players as none of them was willing to let the lead slip off his hands. From 10-10, Kashyap grabbed the next 4 points on the trot to go up 14-10. He then maintained that lead throughout and eventually sealed the game 21-17 in his favour.
Nguyen controlled the second game from the start, relying on a strong display of net shots and sharp movement inside the court, the former World No.5 Vietnamese badminton star enjoyed 11-7 lead at the break. He further stretched his lead to seven points and pocketed the game with ease by a scoreline of 13-21.
Decider went on neck to neck till 18-all but it was at this point that the Hyderabadi started to feel pressure on him as he made a couple of costly errors towards the business end of the game. Leading by 20-18, Nguyen converted the first match point opportunity to draw the curtains on the challenge of the Indian player.
World No. 3 Kidambi Srikanth had an easy outing against the World No. 24 Hsu Jen Hao of Taipei. The 22-year old Guntur born, who was struggling with his form since the Indian Open Superseries victory in March looked in completely different touch as he outclassed his 24-year old opponent 21-14 21-15 in 35 minutes.
Srikanth, who won the 2014 China Open Superseries will now play the 13th seed and World No. 15 Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the next round.
Star Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa made a thumping start to their World Championships campaign after defeating Hsieh Pei Chen and Wu Ti Jung of Chinese Taipei 21-10 21-18 in the second round. Indian pair, who are seeded 13th completely overshadowed their 45th ranked opponents as they clinched the victory in just 24 minutes.
A tough task awaits the Indian pair as they will now face the 8th seed and highly experienced Japanese pair of Miyuki Maeda and Reika Kakiiwa in the next round.
World No. 2 and Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal bulldozed Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong 21-13, 21-9 in the second round. 22-year old Hong Kong shuttler was absolutely no match to her vastly experienced opponent as she succumbed meekly in just 33 minutes.
Saina will now take on the 14th seed Japanese ace Sayaka Takahashi against whom she enjoys a 3-0 lead to make a place in the quarterfinals.
In men’s doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar went down to the 10th seeds Mads-Conrad Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark. Danish pair sidelined the Indian pair 21-16, 21-12 in 34 minutes to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.
In women’s doubles, N.Siki Reddy and Pradnya Gadre stretched the 14th seeded Japanese pair to limits in both the games but the efforts were not enough as they lost the match 17-21, 19-21.
