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Two of India’s biggest shuttlers -- Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth -- made a successful start to their respective campaigns at the World Badminton Championships 2018 in Nanjing, China on Tuesday while the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned the Rio Olympic bronze medallists.
The 10th seeded Nehwal, a silver medallist at this prestigious tournament in 2015, did not look very convincing in the first game as she showed signs of struggle against the World No. 72 Aliye Demirbag of Turkey.
The lower-ranked player kept moving the former World No. 1 around the court to draw errors. The Indian star managed to find her rhythm as the match progressed and was fully in control of the second game before notching up a 21-17, 21-8 win in 38 minutes.
Nehwal will next be up against the former world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the third round in a blockbuster clash of two of the sport’s biggest names.
The fifth seeded Srikanth, who is looking for his maiden World Championships medal, was pretty impressive in his 21-15, 21-16 demolition of the 87th ranked Nhat Nguyen of Ireland. Lee Chong Wei’s withdrawal from the tournament due to respiratory issues has brightened up the India No. 1’s chances and he would definitely hope to make the most of his opportunity.
Up next for Srikanth on Wednesday is the 48th ranked Pablo Abian, who won the White Nights International title this year.
Rankireddy and Ponnappa shine
Both Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa had double delight, winning their respective matches in doubles and mixed doubles, and that too in three games each.
In men’s doubles, Rankireddy and Shetty produced some excellent fighting spirit to get the better of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 21-19, 12-21, 21-19 in 1 hour 20 minutes. The Englishmen had dashed Rankireddy and Shetty’s hopes of winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast back in April.
Rankireddy also teamed up with the veteran Ponnappa to oust the 15th seeded German pair of Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich 10-21, 21-17, 21-18 for a comeback win in mixed doubles.
The Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy paired up for yet another gruelling win when they showed the way to Chiang Kai Hsin and Hung Shih Han 19-21, 21-10, 21-17.
Reddy was not so successful in mixed doubles as she and Pranaav Jerry Chopra crashed out, losing to the 12th seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 16-21, 4-21.
The women’s doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram fought valiantly before succumbing to a 15-21, 21-19, 18-21 defeat to the Netherlands’ Debora Jille and Imke Van Der Aar. The men’s doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Saurabh Sharma also suffered the same fate, bowing out 20-22, 21-18, 17-21 to Hong Kong’s Or Chin Chung and Tang Chun Man after a gritty fight that lasted 51 minutes.
Also exiting the tournament were the Russian Open runners-up Kuhoo Garg and Rohan Kapoor, who were outplayed 12-21, 12-21 by the sixth seeded mixed doubles combine of Chris and Gabrielle Adcock. Joining them on the sidelines were the men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR-Shlok Ramchandran and the mixed doubles duo of Saurabh Sharma-Anoushka Parikh.
Garg also departed from the women’s doubles section, where she was partnering Ningshi Block Hazarika.
