Lakshya Sen shocks 15th seed Nishimoto; Srikanth, Sindhu, Chirag-Satwik advance at World Championships

It was a perfect day for the Indian shuttlers, with Lakshya Sen leading the way at the BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain on Tuesday.

Lakshya Sen notched up a sensational win to topple fifteenth seed Kenta Nishimota of Japan in three hard-fought games. Unseeded Lakshya squeezed past Nishimoto in an extremely entertaining, tight, high-quality match, at 22-20, 15-21, 21-18.

20-year-old Lakshya dug deep to get the better of world No. 17 Nishimoto in a match which lasted an hour and 22 minutes. World No. 19 Lakshya recorded perhaps one of the most memorable wins of his career so far with an outstanding display of power and precision.

Lakshya enters men's singles pre-quarterfinals

With this fabulous victory, Lakshya entered the pre-quarterfinals. It was the first time both the players were playing against each other.

Both Lakshya and Nishimota looked very evenly matched during the pulsating men’s singles second round encounter. Initially, Nishimoto was more composed and enterprising. But what impressed towards the end was Lakshya’s own composure under pressure and his fitness levels.

Uttarakhand youngster Lakshya is in the top half of the first quarter of the draw. The in-form Indian runs into Guatemalan veteran Kevin Cordon, who created such a sensation in the last World Championships by reaching the semi-finals.

This is from the section of the draw vacated by top seed Kento Momota of Japan, who withdrew from the tournament at the last moment.

Kidambi Srikanth rallies back to oust Li Shi Feng from China

Kidambi Srikanth rallied back to beat Li Shi Feng of China 15-21, 21-15, 21-17 in the men’s singles second round. World No. 63 Li Shi Feng got off to a terrific start and put tremendous pressure on Srikanth.

The world No. 14 then regrouped himself and staged a wonderful comeback to post a superb victory in 69 minutes.

Twelfth seed Srikanth will clash with another Chinese, Lu Guangzu, on Thursday. World No. 27 Lu Guangzu stunned fourth seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in three games.

In their only previous meeting, Srikanth had beaten Lu Guangzu at the Indian Open in 2019.

Easy win for PV Sindhu over Martina Repiska of Slovakia

PV Sindhu made light work of Martina Repiska of Slovakia with an easy 21-7, 21-9 win in just 24 minutes.

Sixth seed Sindhu will cross swords with Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong for a spot in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Ninth seed Chochuwong has upset Singhu in their last two encounters.

Eighth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dismissed Lee Jhe and Huei-Yang Po-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei 27-25, 21-17 in the men’s doubles.

Indian Results (Round 2)

Men’s singles

12-Kidambi Srikanth bt Li Shi Feng (China) 15-21, 21-18, 21-17 (69 minutes)

Lakshya Sen bt 15-Kenta Nishimoto (Japan) 22-20, 15-21, 21-18 (82 minutes)

Women’s singles

6-PV Sindhu bt Martina Repiska (Slovakia) 21-7, 21-9 (24 minutes)

Men’s doubles

8-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty bt Lee Jhe-Huei-Yang Po-Hsuan (Chinese Taipei) 27-25, 21-17 (43 minutes)

Mixed doubles

Saurabh Sharma-Anoushka Parikh lost to 9-Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (Malaysia) 8-21, 18-21 (35 minutes)

Indian players in action on Wednesday (Round 3)

Men’s singles

HS Prannoy vs Daren Liew (Malaysia)

Men’s doubles

MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila vs 11-Vladimir Ivanov-Ivan Sozonov (Russia)

Women’s doubles

Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy vs 14-Liu Xuan Xuan-Xia Yu Ting (China).