Sindhu, Sri, Praneeth win; Prannoy out 

Nanjing, August 1

PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched up contrasting wins to progress to the pre-quarterfinals but world No. 11 HS Prannoy suffered a shock defeat to Brazilian Ygor Coelho to bow out of the World Championships.Sindhu, who had got a bye in the first round, opened her campaign with an easy 21-14 21-9 win over Indonesia’s Fitriani. The 23-year-old Indian will face South Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the next round.Srikanth recovered from a slump during the hard-fought contest to see off Spain’s Pablo Abian 21-15 12-21 21-14 in their second-round match that lasted 62 minutes. The 25-year-old Indian will lock horns with Malaysia’s Daren Liew. B Sai Praneeth also entered the next round after defeating Spain’s Luís Enrique Penalver 21-18 21-11 to set up a meeting with Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.However, Prannoy and Sameer Verma bowed out of the tournament. Prannoy could not hold on to the momentum after breezing through the opening game to eventually lose 21-8 16-21 15-21 to Coelho.Later, Sameer failed to get across Lin Dan, losing 17-21 14-21 in a 45-minute match. It also turned out to be a disastrous day for the Indian doubles pairs as all of them lost their matches to crash out of the tournament.

Early lead

Sindhu led 11-7 at the break before moving to 17-7 with six straight points in the opening game. She eventually pocketed the opening game when Fitriani sent the shuttle long. In the second game, Sindhu continued to surge ahead, moving from 4-5 to 8-3 before entering the interval with an 11-5 advantage. The Indian didn’t give Fitriani any chance to make a comeback and quickly wrapped the match when the Indonesian found the net. Srikanth erased a 6-8 deficit in the opening game before gaining an upperhand with a 16-13 lead. He then reeled off four points to pocket the opening game. In the second game, Srikanth had opened up a 6-3 lead but the Spaniard registered seven straight points to roar back into contest. In the decider, Pablo managed a slender 11-9 advantage at the break but Srikanth surged ahead to shut the door on the Spaniard. 

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