BWF World Badminton Championships: PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth Advance to Quarterfinals; HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth Eliminated

India’s ace shuttler PV Sindhu produced a commanding performance to advance to the women’s singles quarterfinals of the ongoing BWF World Championships on Thursday. The two-time silver medallist Sindhu was on the mark right from the word go as she demolished American Beiwen Zhang in straight games 21-14, 21-6 to book a place in the last eight stages of the coveted tournament.

In the men’s singles event, B Sai Praneeth dished out a superlative performance to stun world no 8 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and progress to the quarterfinals but HS Prannoy’s fight ended with a narrow loss. World No 19 Praneeth, who had reached the finals at Swiss Open this year, took just 42 minutes to dispatch sixth-seeded Anthony of Indonesia 21-19 21-13 to set up a likely clash with another Indonesian Jonatan Christie, seeded fourth and the reigning Asian Games champion.

Sindhu confirms Quarterfinal berth!💪🔥

🇮🇳’s top shuttler @Pvsindhu1 puts up a dominant display to enter the QF of #BWFWorldChampionships2019 after defeating @Beiwen0712 2️⃣1️⃣-1️⃣4️⃣,2️⃣1️⃣-6️⃣.

Keep the streak hot champ!👏#IndiaontheRise #badminton #BWFWorldChampionships pic.twitter.com/lHYCbh5uNN

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 22, 2019

Earlier, Prannoy showed glimpsed of brilliance, especially in the opening game, but couldn’t stop World No 1 Kento Momota from registering a 21-19 21-12 win, his fifth victory over the Indian in as many encounters.

In the opening game, Praneeth quickly erased a 0-3 deficit to move to an 8-5 deficit. The Indian, who has had success against Anthony at the 2018 Asia Team championship and 2017 World Championship, kept his stranglehold to enter the break with an 11-8 advantage.

After the interval, Anthony managed to turn the tables at 14-12 and also threatened to undo the good work of the Indian but Praneeth got his bearings in time to pocket the opening game with three straight points from 18-19.

In the second game, Praneeth zoomed to 6-2 but Anthony made his way to manage an 11-8 lead at the breather. After the break, the Indian reeled off six straight points to make it 14-12. He kept marching ahead as Anthony crumbled.

Sai stuns World No 8 to reach the Quarters!🔥

🇮🇳’s @saiprneeth92 continued his winning streak as he stormed into the QF of #BWFWorldChampionships2019 after packing off 6⃣seeded and World no 8, @sinisukaanthony of 🇮🇩 2⃣1⃣-1⃣9⃣,2⃣1⃣-1⃣3⃣

Great win champ!👏#IndiaontheRise pic.twitter.com/gwxrOMfdAS

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 22, 2019

Earlier, Momota dominated the proceedings initially against Prannoy as he moved from an 8-4 lead to grab an 11-7 advantage at the break. Prannoy started putting pressure on his rival after the breather with an attacking game to claw back at 12-12 and kept snapping at Momota’s heels.

At one stage, after the end of the 57-shot rally, an exhausted Prannoy was left prostrated on the floor following a perfect net return from the World No 1. The point gave Momota a two-point cushion at 19-17. But the Indian stuck to his guns and a precise straight smash helped him to level at 19-19.

Momota, however, upped the pace to grab the game point with a return on the backline and then sealed it with a powerful smash.

After the change of sides, Momota once again found his way out of tricky situations to run up a lead of 11-5 at the break. Prannoy tried his best but Momota ensured he had the last laugh as he converted soon after gaining nine match points.