Kidambi, Pusarla and Praneeth clinch easy wins; Prannoy bows out
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 unheralded Brazilian Ygor Coelho to bow out of the World Championship here on Wednesday.
Olympic Silver medallist 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, who won the Silver medal last year, will face Korean Sung Ji Hyun, a 2015 World Championship Bronze medallist, in the next round.
Srikanth, seeded fifth, recovered from a slump during the hard-fought contest to see off Spain's Pablo Abian 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 in a second-round match that lasted 62 minutes.
The 25-year-old Indian, who had clinched four titles last year, will lock horns with Malaysia's Daren liew, a former world No 10, who had won the 2012 French Open Super Series.
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, seeded 11th, couldn't hold on to the momentum after breezing through the opening game to eventually lose 21-8, 16-21, 15-21 to Coelho, ranked 39th in the world.
later, Sameer failed to get across former two-time Olympic champion 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 respective matches to crash out of the prestigious tournament.
Commonwealth Games Silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did all the hard work but couldn't go the full distance, losing narrowly 18-21, 21-15, 16-21 to world No 8 Denmark pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in men's doubles.
Ashwini Ponnapa and N Sikki Reddy were no match for second seeded Japanese combination of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, going down 14-21, 15-21 in the second round women's doubles event.
National champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy waged a gallant battle before losing 24-22, 13-21, 16-21 to seventh seed Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko of Japan in men's doubles.
Sindhu dished out a dominating game and was always in control of the match. Her superior court coverage and accuracy in strokes made life difficult for the Indonesian.
In the opening game, Sindhu lead 11-7 at the break, before moving to 17-7 with six straight points. She eventually comfortably pocketed the opening game when Fitriani sent the shuttle long.
In the second game, Sindhu continued to surge ahead, moving from 4-5 behind to 8-3 before entering the interval with a 11-5 advantage.
The Indian didn't give Fitriani any chance to make a comeback and quickly wrapped the match when the Indonesia found the net.
axelsen, okuhara win
Viktor Axelsen and Nozomi Okuhara stormed into the third round to stay on course for back-to-back men's and women's titles at the badminton world championships on Wednesday.
Denmark's Axelsen, the top seed and men's world number one, subdued a spirited first-game challenge from China's unseeded Huang Yuxiang.
The first game was tied at 16-16 when water drops on the court forced a lengthy delay and eventually the relocation of the match to another court.
That's when Axelsen caught fire, closing out the first game and stepping on the gas in game two to win the match 21-17, 21-8.
While, women's eighth seed Okuhara of Japan made shorter work of unseeded Rachel Honderich, sending the 22-year-old Canadian packing 21-11, 21-9 in just 28 minutes in Nanjing.
Hosts China, led by the great lin Dan, are the sport's superpower, but they have seen their dominance slip of late and can expect a tough fight against the rest of the world's best in Nanjing.
It was so far so good on Wednesday as lin, the number nine seed, got past Sameer Verma of India, 21-17, 21-14.