World Badminton Championships 2017: Sriknath wins, Ponappa-Reddy lose in mixed doubles
The opening day of the World Badminton Championships started on a positive note for Indian shuttlers as both Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma won their respective first round matches to advance further.
The opening day of the World Badminton Championships started on a positive note for Indian shuttlers as both Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma won their respective first round matches to advance further. Srikanth who is India’s biggest hope in the event, defeated Russia’s Sergey Sirant 21-13,21-12. On the other hand, Verma’s opponent Pablo Abian had to retire in 2nd round when score read 21-8,17-4 in favour of Indian.
A very good start to the world championships and a much needed straight sets win. #1stround #straightsetswin #teamindia #believe #achieve pic.twitter.com/Ghxchgxgth
— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) August 21, 2017
"I had a decent break after the Indonesian Open and I worked hard after that before coming in here. First rounds can always be tough in big Championships like this and I am happy that I came through it. It is a confidence booster. I have not set any targets as such, I just want to play and I want to go match by match. I did not think about the second round before this match and now I am only thinking about the next match," said Srikanth.
Unfortunately, Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa lost in the mixed doubles category on Day 2. Ponappa and Reddy provided a tough fight in the first two sets but went down battling 17-21, 21-18, 5-21 to the Chinese pair of Yilyu Wang and Dongping Huang.
Ashwini and Sumeeth's resistance comes to an end.
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 22, 2017
The chinese pair dominate the third game to win the match 21-17, 18-21, 21-5. #2017BWC
PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal both of whom received a bye in the first round, will face Korea’s Hyo Min Kim in the second match on Monday