World Badminton Championships 2018: Day 4 schedule of Indian players, telecast, live streaming, date, time and where to watch online

The third round or the pre-quarter-finals is when the actual competition starts for the biggest title contenders at the World Badminton Championships. Naturally, Day 4 of this prestigious tournament in Nanjing, China presents a host of blockbuster showdowns between some of the game's biggest names.

Both the female superstars of Indian badminton -- PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal -- have tough opponents to deal with as they seek a quarter-final berth each. While the third seeded Sindhu has the ninth seeded Sung Hi Hyun, the 10th seeded Nehwal has to face the fourth seed and former world champion, Ratchanok Intanon.

Sindhu leads the Korean 7-5 in their head-to-head encounters, but it is Sung who had the last laugh in their most recent meeting at the Badminton Asia Championships, where she dwarfed the lanky Sindhu in straight games.

Sung knows how to mix offense with defense, and will definitely aim to dismantle the hard-hitting Sindhu's aggressive game on Thursday.

Saina faces a different kind of opponent -- one that is known for her ability to outfox her rivals with clever mix of guile and disguise. And that is the kind of player, who can hurt Nehwal when the Indian is not at her 100%.

The London Olympic bronze medallist does have a 9-5 edge in their head-to-head meetings and also went on to beat the Thai in their only encounter this year, but their fights turn out to be quite gritty and Saina has to be ready not to concede any cheap point.

Both Sindhu and Saina have been a silver medallist at badminton's flagship event and have loads of experience themselves to know what it takes to beat the best. It remains to be seen if they can apply what exactly is needed on the court and manage to keep errors at bay.

Out of the two men, Kidambi Srikanth has a relatively easier task, compared to the women, at least in terms of his opponent's ranking. In pursuit of his first ever medal from this mega event, Srikanth takes on the 38th ranked Daren Liew of Malaysia. However, the sixth seed cannot be complacent for he has a losing 0-2 record against Liew.

It needs to be noted that the 25-year-old suffered those losses when he was an upcoming player while the Malaysian was at the prime of his career and was seeded in those two tournaments, where they clashed.

Sai Praneeth hasn't been able to replicate the heights he reached last year when he won two titles, one of which was the Singapore Open Superseries. And he faces Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus, who already has a 3-0 lead in their head-to-head meetings, making it difficult for the Indian to try and make a big statement.

That said, if he indeed succeeds in notching up his maiden win over the Dane, it will give a huge boost to his confidence.

In the only doubles match involving Indians, the national mixed doubles champions Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy meet the seventh seeds Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai.

Here's all the information you need to know

Tournament name: Total BWF World Championships 2018

Category: Grade 1 - Individual Tournaments

Location: Nanjing, China

Date: Thursday, August 2, 2018

Round: Third round

Broadcast: Live telecast on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD from 7.30am IST

Livestream: hotstar.com

Live updates: On Sportskeeda

Schedule of Indian players:

Men's singles

Sai Praneeth vs Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus at approx 3.10pm

(5) Kidambi Srikanth vs Daren Liew at 3.30pm

Women's singles

(4) Ratchanok Intanon vs (10) Saina Nehwal at approx 1.10pm

(3) PV Sindhu vs (9) Sung Ji Hyun at approx 3.45pm

Mixed doubles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa vs (7) Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai at approx 10.45am

(All timings in Indian Standard Time)