BWF World Championships, day 2 as it happened: Prannoy defeats world No 9 Angus, Axelsen knocked out

11.40 pm: And that’s that for the day as far as Indians are concerned. Superb win for HS Prannoy against Ng Ka Long Angus. But the headline act of the day came from Loh Kean Yew who stunned world No 1 Viktor Axelsen.

Here’s a look at Tuesday’s schedule:

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 21-18, 21-17 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: Solid performance from Arjun and Kapila and that is the first doubles win for India at this edition. The Indians will face Ivanov / Sozanov from Russia next. There will be some familiarity there as the Russians have been part of the PBL.

Here’s how the second game panned out.

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 21-18, 19-15 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: Arjun and Dhruv have been playing together a while now, and that understanding is evident on the court. The Danes close the gap down a bit but the Indians have the serve back and are two points away.

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 21-18, 16-11 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: Great court coverage from Dhruv-Arjun on display and they are running away with this now.

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 21-18, 11-9 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: A 11-9 lead for Arjun-Dhruv at the mid-point of the 2nd game. They are looking pumped up for this. Dhruv with a dominant point to take them into the interval.

It’s not often you can say that in a match that features Viktor Axelsen that his opponent’s jump smash was more lethal. Loh Kean Yew’s jump smash is a thing of beauty. What a result for him.

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 21-18 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: Game 1, India. MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila trailed for large parts of the opening game but pull ahead in the second half & hold their nerves in the end. Some lovely badminton from both pairs. Fun match. This is how the opener panned out.

Reigning women’s singles World Champion will begin her title defence on court 3. (Live scores only). Big day for India with Lakshya and Satwik-Chirag beginning their tournaments, and a tricky test for Srikanth too.

Antonsen, who might be the favourite from here on, moves forward.

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 8-11 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: Two straight points to the Danes as they head into the mid-game interval with a three-point lead.

MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila 7-8 Mathias Thyrri / Daniel Lundgaard: Arjun and Kapila have played some solid badminton in the recent past without the results to show for it. A wonderful rally in the early exchanges that saw all 4 shuttlers complement each other brilliantly. Good start to this match. Danes holding a slight edge at the moment.

10.42 pm: Time for the final Indian match of the day. Dhruv Kapila and M R Arjun will take on Daniel Lundgaard and Mathias Thyrri in the men’s doubles.

On Court 1: Viktor Axelsen, 2nd seed, knocked out. Rising star Loh Kean Yew with a big win.

On Court 3: Ng Ka Long Angus, 8th seed, knocked out. Former top-10 HS Prannoy with a big win.

Wild few minutes!

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18, 21-19 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: HS PRANNOY has done it! The upset specialist, isn’t he? A come-from-behind win against the World No 9 Ng Ka Long Angus and the Indian is through to the second round after a 71-min battle. The decider was quite a rollercoaster!

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18, 18-17 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Axelsen out... still trying to come to terms with that and we see HS Prannoy leading 18-17 in the background against Ng Ka Long Angus.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18, 16-16 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Oh wow. Prannoy fights back to make it 14-14 and then even leads 16-14, but now Angus has the lead back at 17-16.

UPSET ALERT: Viktor Axelsen is out! The Danish World No 1, who has been in dream form for the majority of 2021, has been defeated in the first round by a brilliant Loh Kean Yew. Stunning scoreline.

10.00 pm: Axelsen trails 6-19 in the decider! Huge upset imminent.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18, 7-11 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: It was a close start to the decider. 2-2. 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7... but then Angus pulls ahead 11-7 to lead at the final change of ends. Can Prannoy mount a comeback?

9.57 pm: Axelsen misses a kill at the net after a fantastic rally and Loh Kean Yew has a 11-5 lead at the final change of ends! This is getting all too real, all too fast for Viktor Axelsen.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18, 7-9 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: From 7-7, Angus moves into a 2-point lead.

9.53 pm: This is now a genuine upset alert on court 1. Having dropped the 2nd game 9-21, Axelsen is now trailing 2-6 in the decider! This is no longer just a blip, this is a full blown crisis for the world No 1.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18, 5-5 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Tight start to the decider. 2-2, 4-4 and then 5-5.

9.48 pm: Axelsen had dropped the second game 9-21 against Loh Kean Yew in the Indonesian Open final too. But that point it felt like a strategic call... here it feels like he is rattled. This could be a huge upset in the making.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 21-18 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Phew! HS Prannoy forces the decider. He started the 2nd game brilliantly, led 7-0 and then 15-3, and then 20-12. Angus fought back to save 6 game points but Prannoy converts his 7th. You could hear a roar on the broadcast, we presume it is Prannoy’s. (Meanwhile Axelsen has dropped the 2nd game 21-9 against Loh Kean Yew)

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 20-18 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Oh dear. Angus has saved 6 game points.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 20-16 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Wow Angus has saved four game points.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 19-12 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Angus keeps closing the gap down but not by any significant margin, might help with the momentum in third game though.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 16-10 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Another run of points for Angus, three straight to close the lead down to 6.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 15-7 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Prannoy keeps the leading growing in the second half, but Angus closes down a bit with 4 straight points.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 11-3 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Prannoy goes into the interval with the scoreboard reading 11-3. Looking good to force a decider against the 8th seed.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21, 7-0 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Fantastic start to the second game for HS Prannoy! Races to a 7-0 lead as we get a glimpse of his from the side view of a stunning retrieval by Loh Kean Yew on the main court.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 13-21 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: The first game is over in a hurry after the mid-game interval. Angus has raced through the second half.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 12-18 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: From HSP making it 9-11, Angus has pulled ahead big time. 18-12 lead now.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 8-11 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Angus keeps pulling ahead, then Prannoy keeps narrowing the deficit. It is the 8th seed who has the lead at the mid-game interval.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 8-11 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Angus keeps pulling ahead, then Prannoy keeps narrowing the deficit. It is the 8th seed who has the lead at the mid-game interval.

9.05 pm: At whatever instance Viktor Axelsen decided to train with Loh Kean Yew and Lakshya Sen, destiny conspired to make them play each other repeatedly on tour.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy 2-2 Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: Points exchanged in the early stages.

Meanwhile, live on Court 1, is Axelsen vs Loh Kean Yew.

9.00 pm: Nice win for Hans-Kristian Vittinghus. He had a match point in the second game... and his racket strings broke! Breezes through the third game though. Nice exchange at the end between the two veterans.

Men’s singles, HS Prannoy vs Ng Ka Long Angus [8]: No live telecast for this one, mind you. Just score updates. Stay tuned. Players are being called onto the court as we hear from the main telecast.

8.52 pm: Not far away from the start of HS Prannoy vs Ng Ka Long Angus. Can the Indian pull off an upset of sorts here?

8.45 pm: The 35-plus men are putting on quite the show. HKV had a match point after saving multiple game points and his racket strings broke! Then Nguyen clinches the game eventually.

8.31 pm: Great discussion on air between Gill Clark and Morten Frost. A lopsided draw in men’s singles after the withdrawals. (Three of the top 8 seeds were in top half and are no longer competing, while there are no former medallists in that half now after Sai Praneeth’s defeat). Why not wait and do the draw closer to the start tournament once players assemble, they ask. Makes even more sense in Covid-19 times.

Correction: Court 1

7.48 pm: This match coming up on Court 1. Team Thirty-plus, assemble!

7.30 pm: Lee Zii Jia, eventually, safely through to the second round. Clinical in the decider.

7.00 pm: Well, well, well. All England champion Lee Zii Jia in a spot of bother in the first round. He will have to take the scenic route to progress.

5.45 pm An interview with Satwiksairaj about his experience at Tokyo 2020 (where everything changed for him, he says), how do Satwik-Chirag evolve from here as a pair, his mixed doubles hopes and more. A frank, ambitious Satwik is looking to push further and further. He will begin his campaign at the World Championships with Chirag in the second round.

Interview: ‘After Olympics everything has changed, I want to win titles everywhere’ – Satwiksairaj

Mixed doubles, round of 64, IND vs GER 20-22, 16-21: Not quite as close as the first game, as Utkarsh Arora and Karisha Wadkar bow out in straight games. Srikanth remains the only Indian winner in first-round matches for now in Huelva.

Mixed doubles, round of 64, IND vs GER 20-22: A big, thrilling battle between the Indian pairing of Utkarsh Arora/Karishma Wadkar and the German team of Patrick Sheieil and Franziska Volkmann. The Indian pair was ahead at the break but the German pair came back strongly in the second half.

Men’s doubles, round of 64 IND vs CHN 15-21, 14-21: Ou/Zhang proving to be too good for the Indian pair. Their defence was much better and they were able to take things up a notch when they had to. A comprehensive win in 29 minutes.

Men’s doubles, round of 64 IND vs CHN 15-21, 8-11: Ou/Zhang leading at the interval again, as they did in the first game. George and Skuhla continue to impress in parts and then serve up some errors which allows the Chinese pair to pull away.

Men’s doubles, round of 64 IND vs CHN 15-21: It was close for a while and George/Shukla have put on a decent show but the Chinese pair of Ou/Zhang seems to have found a good rhythm now. They pulled away in the second half of the first game.

Men’s doubles, round of 64 IND vs CHN 8-11: The Chinese are keeping the points short and sweet, Zhang showing his class a couple of times. The Indians have not let them get away yet.

Men’s singles: Ninth seed Kanta Tsuneyama avoids a big upset.

Men’s doubles, round of 64 IND vs CHN 7-4: Good little start for the Indians. They are at level pegging initially at 3-3. But the Chinese are starting to pull away at 7-4.

Men’s doubles, round of 64 IND vs CHN: Arun and Sanyam have been just outside top 50 in the past, they have shown promise as a pairing but this is a huge test for them. The Indians to serve.

Men’s doubles action coming up. India vs China. OU Xuan Yi and ZHANG Nan vs Arun GEORGE and Sanyam SHUKLA. A tough test awaits the Indians. Zhang, 31, is a former World No 2 with Liu Cheng and is a decorated doubles star. Multiple Olympic and Worlds champion.

An interview with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy coming up shortly on Scroll.in: “It’s always challenging to improve. I think we need to improve a lot mentally, we need to perform more consistently. We have to win tournaments, not just play good matches. That’s what makes you a top player, and I want to be in the top five. Personally, I feel it’s all about your mentality. On court, we’re always on top but it’s about training well, handling our body, handling our mind, focusing on the match... we need to improve on these things. After the Olympics, we have learnt about the things we need to improve on. Trying to play at our 100%, we need to work on that.”

3.30 pm: The first three matches on court two have taken a combined total of 88 minutes. Some quickfire games so far today. From India’s point of view, next match is one match away on Court 2. OU Xuan Yi and ZHANG Nan of China vs Arun GEORGE and Sanyam SHUKLA

Srikanth Kidambi’s reaction to the win yesterday:

“I am quite happy, always good to start well, Srikanth said in the mixed zone later. “Pablo is someone who has the potential to trouble any player. If you actually saw him play at the German Open [Hylo Open] he played really well in a close match against Lee Zii Jia. And even when I played him at the World Championships a few years it was a close one. Quite happy with the way I played and looking forward to the next round.”

Read: I just want to train and train and train, and get better: Kidambi Srikanth

Mixed doubles, Ind vs Den 8-21, 4-11: This is who the two games panned out.

Mixed doubles, Ind vs Den 8-21, 4-11: Emphatic as it gets. Straight forward defeat for the Indian pairing of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad. Denmark’s Mai Surrow and Mathias Thyrri convincing winners.

Mixed doubles, Ind vs Den 8-21, 2-11: Surrow and Thyrri and in a hurry. Thyrri will have to return for men’s doubles later, so this is good for him.

Mixed doubles, Ind vs Den 8-21: First game goes to the Danes 21-8. Led all the way through.

Mixed doubles, Ind vs Den 4-11: The Danes have made it look easy and the Indian pair look out of their depth here. Lots of errors by Dewangan and Prasad so far.

Mixed doubles, Ind vs Den 0-4: It won’t be easy for the Indian pair considering their ranking and the Danes have jumped to a 4-0 lead in the early going.

2.19 pm: The first round of matches on all three courts are now over. That means it is time for the mixed doubles pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad to take on Denmark’s Mai Surrow and Mathias Thyrri on Court 2.

2.18 pm: An easy win for Daren Liew, a former top-10 player, over Misha Zilberman from Israel on Court 2. The Malaysian wins 21-14, 21-14. Nice symmetry.

ICYMI, here’s how day one panned out for Indian shuttlers:

Badminton World C’ships as it happened: Srikanth advances, Sai Praneeth knocked out in first round

1.39 pm: The second match on court two will be the first match featuring Indians today. The mixed doubles pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad will be up against Denmark’s Mai Surrow and Mathias Thyrri.

India’s schedule for day two:

BWF World C’ships: Kidambi Srikanth is the only Indian winner on Day 1

Hello and welcome to live updates from day two of the Badminton World Championships in Huelva, Spain.

(Screenshots courtesy Tournament Software and Disney+Hotstar)