BWF World Championships 2022, Tokyo, Japan, Aug 22-28

[sameerph]

So, this year's world championships taking place this week in Tokyo. One blow to Indian hopes came before the start as 5 time medalist PV Sindhu pulled out due to injury sustained during CWG. So, it up to others to continue Indian tradition of winning at least 1 medal in every world championships since 2011.

To summarise results of first round -

Mens singles- 3 of the 4 Indians Srikanth, Lakshya Sen and Prannoy went thru to second round all with straight games wins in first round. Closest match was Srikanth with a 22-20, 21-19 win in against Vietnamese Nhat Nguyen. Sai Praneeth lost to 4th seed Taiwanse Chou Tien Chen but after giving good fight in 3 games. In second round, Prannoy up against second seeded Japanese Kento Momota, Srikanth against 23rd ranked Chinese in a tricky match while Lakshya on paper has the easiest match against 74th ranked Spaniard.

Womens singles- 2 Indians in field. Malvika Bansod lost in first round against Dane Christophersen. Veteran Saina Nehwal with a straight games win over 50th ranked Cheung from Hongkong.

Mens doubles- Seventh seeds Satwik-Chirag got first round bye. Young pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila had a tough 22-20 third game win against 33rd ranked Thai pair. 2 other Indian pairings - Manu-Sumith and Vishnu-Krishna lost in first round.

Womens doubles- Surprisingly all 4 Indian pairs went thru to second round. But all are playing seeds in second round. So, tough to progress further.

Mixed doubles- Only Indian pair of Ishan and Tanisha won first round but lost today against 14th seeds in second round.

So, 3 in mens singles, 1 womens singles, 2 in mens doubles, 4 in womens doubles to play in R32 tomorrow.

[Atithee]

Thank you for compiling this nice summary, Sameer. Your dedication is impressive and much appreciated.

[SaniaFan]

Just to add here that Saina has already reached R16 as Okuhara has withdrawn. Lucky Break for her.

[Sin Hombre]

I worry our 12 year run will end this year unless Lakshya medals.

[sameerph]

True, either Lakshya or Satwik-Chirag will have to play above their level and beat couple of higher ranked players/pairs to medal here. Else, the streak will be over.

[sameerph]

Thank you for compiling this nice summary, Sameer. Your dedication is impressive and much appreciated.

Thanks, Atithee for this appreciation. Makes one more enthusiastic about posting here.


Today in early results, 2 of womens doubles pairings of Ashwini-Sikki and Pooja-Sanjana lost to first and third seeds respectively as expected in straight games.

But, mens doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila upset 8th seeds Danish team of Kim Astup and Anders Rasmussen 21-17 21-16 to register first top 10 of their career and they move to R16.

[srini]

Prannoy sends 2nd seed Momota packing, but Momota hasn’t been playing optimal for a while now, after his accident I think.

India still having 2 pairs in Mens doubles in round 3 is great especially in a category the heavy weights China couldn’t even find pair ranked enough to participate! May be individual players like Sindhu leaving Gopi’s academy made him shift his focus to doubles? It’s good that finally we are seeing some pairs that have potential

[sameerph]

Don't think this has anything to do with Gopi. He is not even in charge of doubles teams. Satwik-Chirag where anyway seeded to reach QF, big surprise was Arjun-Dhruv upsetting a top 10 player but credit for that is due to our Danish doubles coach Mathias Boe.

Yes, Momota is not the same player before his injury but still to beat him in straight games at his home is excellent by Prannoy who is full of confidence these days after his Thomas cup heroics and then some good runs on pro circuit.

So, these are our matches in last 16-

[PQF] Lakshya Sen (IND,10) vs. H.S. Prannoy (IND,18)

[PQF] Saina Nehwal (IND,33) vs. (12) Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,12)

[PQF] MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila (IND,35) vs. Hee Yong Kai Terry / Loh Kean Hean (SIN,41)
[PQF] (7) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty (IND,7) vs. Jeppe Bay / Lasse Molhede (DEN,32)

[rajitghosh]

Sad that Lakshya and Prannoy are meeting so early. In the form they were in both could have gone further.
What was even sadder was the way Srikanth got thrashed. I think his career is coming to an end.

[Sin Hombre]

Dhruv and Arjun followed their upset by beating slightly lower ranked Singaporean pair (#41 vs #35 for the Indian pair) in 3-games to reach the quarterfinals.

Next up will be the end of their run against the #3 Indonesian pair.

[sameerph]

Yes and Dhruv-Arjun are the first mens doubles pair ever to get to a world championship QF. Hope we get second one later in the day in Satwik-Chirag.

[jayakris]

^^^ Nice. What's going on, our payers have decided to give some importance to doubles now? This Malayali dude Arjun seems to be like a doubles specialist for a long time? Same with Dhruv Kapila, I suppose? He is pretty young at 22. Does this team have what it takes to rise up to the top-10?

[ornatebrute]

Have long said that the pairing is top 15-20 potential for sure. Just did not know how to close the matches. Had same problems today in Pre QF as well. Generally, a very Indian problem, particularly in doubles. Next they'll be against daddies and I think they're 0-4 against them but have taken them to three sets in 3 of 4 matches. A surprise tomorrow and their names will be etched in history forever.

[srini]

So both our mens doubles in to quarters too! And who knows, with just one more upset over the “daddies” aged 36 and 33 in the twilight of their career, our 25 and 22 aged youngsters may create history. If they can’t Satwik and Chirag may have a second go at it after them

[sameerph]

Yes, lets hope for a mens doubles medal this time. Daddies ( who are 4-5 time world champions or something) may be beatable now, Satwik-Chirag beat them in the Indian open final. Let Arjun-Dhruv beat Daddies and then I will say that they are top 10 potential pair. As of now they appear to be top 15-20 potential pair.

Satwik-Chirag are up against defending champions from Japan who have won 2 tournaments this year. So, they appear to have a tough task.

In the meantime, Prannoy ( another Keralite ? ) continued his purple patch as he beat Lakshya in 3 close sets and will meet a Chinese in QF.

These are today's full results-

[PQF] H.S. Prannoy (IND,18) d. Lakshya Sen (IND,10) 17-21 21-16 21-17

[PQF] Saina Nehwal (IND,33) l. (12) Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,12) 17-21 21-16 13-21

[PQF] MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila (IND,35) d. Hee Yong Kai Terry / Loh Kean Hean (SIN,41) 18-21 21-15 21-16
[PQF] (7) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty (IND,7) d. Jeppe Bay / Lasse Molhede (DEN,32) 12-21 10-21

Next,

[QF] H.S. Prannoy (IND,18) vs. Zhao Jun Peng (CHN,23)


[QF] MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila (IND,35) vs. (3) Mohmmad Ahsan / Hendra Setiawan (INA,3)
[QF] (7) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty (IND,7) vs. (2) Takuro Hoki (JPN) / Yugo Kobayashi (JPN,2)