Check-mate: Prannoy beats Lakshya to enter quarters; Kapila-Arjun, Satwik-Chirag advance, Saina ousted

PTI

Tokyo, August 25

India’s HS Prannoy staged a spirited comeback to beat compatriot Lakshya Sen to enter the singles quarterfinals, while the men’s doubles pairing of Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun continued their impressive run to make the last-eight stage at the World Championships here today.

It was a gruelling battle between Sen and Prannoy, who eventually eked out a 17-21 21-16 21-17 over his teammate in 75 minutes. It was their fourth meeting of the year, and after Prannoy’s win, the head-to-head record stands at 2-2. Prannoy will now face China’s Zhao Jun Peng in the quarterfinals.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the quarterfinals in the men’s doubles.

However, Saina Nehwal was knocked out by Busanan Ongbamrungphan in a hard-fought women’s singles pre-quarterfinals match. The 32-year-old lost 17-21 21-16 13-21 to the Thai, who extended her head-to-head record against the Indian to 5-3.

Sayonara Saina

Nehwal was immediately put under pressure by Ongbamrungphan as she raced to 11-3 in the opening game.

The two-time Worlds medallist was able to bridge the gap to 17-19, but Ongbamrungphan held on to take the first game.

The late surge in the previous game gave Nehwal confidence as the former world No. 1 led 11-7 at the break. Playing aggressively, she continued to dictate the terms and forced the match into the decider.

The third game was played on an even keel until the interval. From there onwards, Ongbamrungphan started to gain momentum and opened up a five-point lead as Nehwal began losing steam.

In the end, the 26-year-old Ongbamrungphan, who has now won her last five matches against Saina, had seven match points as she sealed a quarterfinals berth.

Killer duo?

The unseeded Kapila and Arjun had to toil hard for 58 minutes as they came from behind to win the Round of 16 clash against Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean of Singapore 18-21 21-15 21-16.

The two are enjoying a good run — they had upstaged eighth seeds and the last edition’s bronze medallists Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-17 21-16 in the second round.

They will cross swords with the third-seeded Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the quarters.

Rankireddy and Shetty advanced without much fuss, seeing off Denmark’s Lasse Molhede and Jeppe Bay 21-12 21-10. They next take on second seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.

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