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Day 3 Report and reactions: Sindhu starts with breezy win; Lakshya, Srikanth, Satwik-Chirag clinch thrillers

Day 4 recap for India:

HS Prannoy registered a straight-game win over fellow former top 10 Daren Liew of Malaysia to reach the pre-quarterfinals. The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy entered the round of 16 after a hard-fought 21-11 9-21 21-13 win over the Chinese pair of Liu Xuan Xuan and Xia Yu Ting in a 51-minute second round match.

Prannoy beat his Malaysian opponent 21-7 21-17 in a men’s singles second round match that lasted 42 minutes, displaying tremendous control over his game.

He will play Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the pre-quarterfinals. Prannoy joined two other Indians, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the showpiece tournament.

In the men’s doubles however, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to 11th seeded Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 11-21 16-21 in a second round match that lasted 41 minutes.

Scroll down for reactions from Prannoy, Ashwin, Sikki

10.30 pm: A packed day for Indian badminton but a nice spread for the games. Sindhu vs Chochuwong right off the gates at 1.30 pm on Court 2. Doubles to follow in that session featuring Ashwini-Sikki and Satwik-Chirag. Srikanth and Prannoy on Court 1, but only in the 2nd session. Only disappointment, Lakshya vs big man Kevin Cordon is unfortunately on Court 3.

Men’s singles seeds update:

No 1, 5, 7: Withdrawn

No 4, 8, 9, 10: Defeated

Getting interesting with every passing match.

Men’s singles: Wonderful celebration, wonderful win. 35-year-old Hans Kristian Vittinghus has made it to the third round defeating the 9th seed. Played some amazing badminton in the decider. Up against Lee Zii Jia next.

Men’s singles: HK Vittinghus! 35 years old and playing lung-busting rallies in a decider of a match like he is a spring chicken. Sensational. he is on the verge of defeating the 9th seed Tsuneyama, another seed in MS is danger of falling by the wayside.

Women’s singles: On court, WS has been rather straightforward for the most part but now we have the first major result. 11th Busanan has retired after just a minute in her match against Line. An elbow injury it would seem.

HS Prannoy after his win in the battle of former top 10 shuttlers against Daren Liew (via BWF mixed zone):

“It was really important for me to stay focused for the entire match because I knew there would be patches when Daren is going to play extremely well, so it was important for me to mentally not fight back against those spells because I knew they would come. So that was the key today, and happy with the way mentally I was on the go today.”

“It’s important to keep shuttles in play, especially conditions like here where the shuttles are good, you can lift comfortably, and it’s important to not give easy points in the first two-three strokes. I knew physically I was up there. So I can rally,  and get those points. Major point was to trust myself and today also I was mentally right up there.”

“Matches are going to get tougher and tougher. It’s important to focus on recovery and the game will take care of itself. I had a bad back injury during the European season; now I’m feeling good since Indonesia. I have a lot of confidence post Indonesia. The first match was long and tiring and that gave me a lot of confidence.”

Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy react after today’s superb win against 14th seeds from China (Via BWF mixed zone):

Ashwini: Very happy that we won our match.

Sikki: [On conditions] We were warming up in the lounge, where there were some heaters. We had a good knocking, because it was really cold you have to do extra warmups. We have played them before, so we knew their game and prepared for their strokes. So it went well for us today

Ashwini: [On 2nd game] I don’t really know what happened in the second game! We just ended up losing a lot of points together at 6-0. Yeah we struggled a bit but fortunately in the third we picked our game up again, managed to find the areas where we needed to play in order to get good points. Happy that we won, happy our plans worked, most importantly glad we won. 

Sikki: [Difference in playing the Chinese opponents now than before] We played them two years back and they have not played many competitions recently. But we have been playing in Europe, Asia... our performance is going well. Consistent. Our defence is working well. Just wanted to keep as many shuttles in the court as possible and wait for an opportunity to finish it. 

Ashwini: [On playing the sixth seed Thai pair next, against whom the Indians are 0-6] We have played them a lot recently and we have lost. Hopefully tomorrow will be a different outcome. We are gearing up to go out there and give our best. Today was our first day on court, felt good. Although a little bit cold, our nose and eyes were watering. But good conditions. 

Meanwhile in Indian cricket...

Men’s singles: One of the favourites for the title now, Lee Zii Jia plays another scrappy game to progress. But you know what they say... the best find a way to win when not at their best.

Men’s singles: Loh Kean Yew backing up his win against Axelsen with a superb performance. Watch out for this young shuttler going far.

Men’s singles: Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, 11th seed, is through to R16 where he will face India’s HS Prannoy. A tough test awaits the Indian who has not beaten Gemke in 2 previous matches (both in 2019), but he looked in solid touch today.

Women’s singles: Seems An Seyoung is through in style.

HS Prannoy, after his impressive win in the second round, talks to BWF about having to overcome Covid-19 related complications:

“I had to find my own solutions. I had to go places, take flights, meet people, find what’s working not working, spend money. It’s not just time consuming but mentally it’s tough. You’re trying everything on court, off court, but you’re not in a position to play.

“Covid happened last November. I went on to meet doctors, I met a specialist in September. He said we’ve ruled out everything, there is no muscle related issue. It’s just Covid, it’s a slight lining on the wall of the lungs that got inflamed. It was hurting every time (during training).

“I’m trying out breathing exercises as medication isn’t recommended. Now it’s slightly better.”

— BWF

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9, 21-13 China [14] Ashwini & Sikki produce a thrilling performance against 14th seeds from China to win in three games. Sensational start and finish to the game. Hi-5s at the end with coach Park.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9, 20-13 China [14]: Sikki kills a point at the net and match points.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9, 19-12 China [14]: Sikki on fire, really! Huge lead for the Indians. But the Chinese pair get the serve back. And start to close the gap.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9, 18-10 China [14]: Really really impressive from Ashwin and Sikki in this match! 16-10 lead in the decider. The commentator is super impressed with Sikki specially, who is owning the court at the moment.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9, 11-9 China [14]: In a game of constantly changing leads, Ashwini and Sikki do really well to take three points in a row before the final change of ends.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9, 9-9 China [14]: This is superb doubles play from both pairs. Neither giving each other an inch.

Men’s doubles, India 11-21, 16-21 Russia [11]: The Russians too good in the end. Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun impressed in patches but couldn’t put the veterans under enough pressure.

Men’s doubles, India 11-21, 16-19 Russia [11]: The Indians made it a one-game here briefly but Ivanov and Sozonov pull ahead again.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 21-9 China [14]: Just a reversal of sorts in the second game. The Chinese utterly dominant even though the Indians won a couple of superb long rallies. Still feels like Ashwini-Sikki can make a match out of this.

Men’s doubles, India 11-21, 12-16 Russia [11]: The Indians are keeping the deficit around 3-4 here but that isn’t enough at the moment.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 6-11 China [14]: The Chinese still controlling the tempo of the rallies and the pace is just a bit too much to handle at the moment for the Indians. They need to regroup now. Coach Park is on doubles duties there.

Men’s doubles, India 11-21, 7-11 Russia [11]: Better from Arjun and Dhruv in the second game but the Russians still ahead.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 4-9 China [14]: absolutely fantastic rally from both pairs... 55 shots and it ends with an error from the Chinese. Terrific point construction from both the Indians though. Starting to find their rhythm again.

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 3-9 China [14]: The Chinese are starting to play like the 14th seeds they are (even though one rank below on the world rankings than the Indians who have played more frequently). Can the Indians find their footing again here?

Women’s doubles, India 11-21, 0-6 China [14]: Wow, that is a brilliant start to the match from the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy. They win 8 straight points to take the opening game 21-11 against the 14th seeds from China. The second game has started really well for Chinese though, who looked like they received a stern telling off from their coach.

Men’s doubles, India 11-21 Russia [11]: The Indians save four game points but that is about all the joy they had. The Russians lost their focus a little at the end but do enough to win the opener.

Men’s doubles, India 6-17 Russia [11]: Doesn’t seem too good for the Indians in this match, one-way traffic ever since Dhruv got his ankle looked at.

Women’s doubles, India 11-8 China [14]: good start continues for Ashwini and Sikki, leading 11-8 at the mid-game interval.

Men’s doubles, India vs Russia [11]: Dhruv needs some treatment on his ankle early on and the pressure from the Russians is unrelenting at the moment. The Indians are trailing 4-9 there.

Women’s doubles, India vs China [14]; good start to the match from Sikki and Ashwini. Leading 7-5 in the early exchanges.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy in action next on Court 1 against 14th seeds from China. On Court 2, Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun in action against 11th seeds from Russia.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 21-17 Daren Liew: Here’s how the 2nd game panned out. He will likely face Rasmus Gemke, the 11th seed next.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 21-17 Daren Liew: The roar in the end says it all. Prannoy wanted that win and wanted it bad. A superbly controlled performance from the Indian and he is through to the round of 16 as well, joining Lakshya and Srikanth.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 20-16 Daren Liew: ANd another huge roar from Prannoy. A controlled rally results in an error from Liew. And it is match points.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 19-16 Daren Liew: Well well. Liew still fighting hard, the wily old veteran is sensing a window open here.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 18-13 Daren Liew: Huge roar from Prannoy just as Liew was starting to close the gap, just to assert that he is still in control of this.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 11-8 Daren Liew: A three-point lead in the mid-game now for HSP. Back in control even though the battle is closer. Liew looking a bit lost.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 9-6 Daren Liew: Liew started well and there were a few errors from PRannoy too as he fell back by a point but he has four straight points to move ahead.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7, 3-3 Daren Liew: Tighter start to the 2nd game.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 21-7 Daren Liew: If the first half of the game was good, the second half was superb. Prannoy is complete control, masterful as the commentator puts it, as the scoreboard pressure forced more errors. But the things is, the fresh game will be a fresh start for Liew.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 11-5 Daren Liew A solid start to the match by Prannoy, his attacking game is clicking well.

Men’s singles round of 32, HS Prannoy 7-3 Daren Liew: A good start for the Indian.


HS Prannoy is on court first up taking on a familiar foe in Daren Liew.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the BWF World Championships, taking place in Huelva, Spain.

Today second round action continues and there are three matches featuring Indians. There are other big names in action too, in the bottom of the draw across the categories.

Defending champion PV Sindhu breezed past Martina Repiska 21-7 21-9 to make a resounding start to her campaign on Tuesday. The fast-rising Lakshya Sen prevailed over 15th seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 22-20 15-21 21-18 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals along with Kidambi Srikanth rallied to defeat Chinese Li Shi Feng 15-21 21-18 21-17. The 12th seeded Indian’s match lasted one hour and nine minutes. In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 27-25 21-17 in 43 minutes.

India's schedule for Wednesday (Courtesy: Tournament Software)

(Screenshots in the blog courtesy Tournament Software and Disney+Hotstar)