2015 World Championships- Day 2 Round-up

PV Sindhu won a hard-fought second round match

It was an average second day for the Indian shuttlers at Badminton World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. While both the singles players in fray progressed to the next round ; there was a setback in doubles as the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy and women’s duo of Dhanya Nair and Mohita Sahdev were shown the exit doors.

In women’s singles, P.V Sindhu survived a scare to overcome Danish shuttler Line KJjaersfeldt in the second round. Ranked 13th, Sindhu defeated the World ranked 35 Dane 11-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a match which lasted for 50 minutes. The 20-year-old, who is battling for her third consecutive World Championships medal was absolutely no match to her lower ranked opponent as she was sidelined in just 15 minutes in the opening game.

The second game began on a more even note as both the shuttlers were fighting hard for each and every point. From 7-7, the 20 year old Indian grabbed the next two points in a row to take a slender lead. Following this, the Hyderabadi ace never let this lead slip off her hands as she bagged the game 21-17.

Third game was more or less the same as Sindhu reeled off five points in quick succession from 9-9. With such a healthy lead in hand, she faced absolutely no difficulty in wrapping the game. She will now play the reigning Olympic Champion and World No. 3 Chinese shuttler Li Xuerui for a place in quarterfinals.

In men’s singles, World No. 3 Kidambi Srikanth got off to a positive start with a 21-10, 21-13 win over Australia's Michael Fariman in just 24 minutes.

The 22-year old Indian, who has failed to get past the second round hurdle in the last seven tournaments will now take on the World ranked 24 Taipei player Hsu Jen Hao. The Guntur-born lad enjoys a 1-0 lead over his lower ranked opponent.

In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy went down to the Chinese pair of Lu Kai and Cai Yun in a completely one sided affair. Ranked 29, The Chinese pair thrashed the World ranked 17 Indians 21-9 21-7 in less than half an hour. It never looked like that the Indians were fighting hard enough against their higher experienced rivals.

Leading by 5-2, The Chinese pair rolled the next eight points in the blink of an eye to overshadow the Indians in the first game. The performance of the U.S Open Grand Prix Gold finalists was even worse in the second game as this time they just managed to get seven points. Attri and Reddy, who are vying to qualify for the next year’s Olympics needs to be a lot more consistent with their performance if they want to beat the best in the world.

In women’s doubles, Mohita Sahdev and Dhanya Nair, who are World No. 94 were knocked out by the world ranked 39 French pair of Delphine Lansac and Emilie Leifel 18-21 16-21 in the opening round of tournament.