Badminton World Championships: Satwik-Chirag, Prannoy into QFs; Lakshya, Treesa-Gayatri bow out

India’s singles player HS Prannoy and men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their respective quarter-finals at the BWF World Championships in Copenhagen on Thursday.

Lakshya Sen and the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out in the third round.

Playing against the 2021 World Champion Loh Kean Yew, Prannoy took his time to find his rhythm in the first game as he went into the mid-game break trailing 11-8. After the break, Prannoy slowly started constructing good points to take the lead at 19-16 before closing out the first game 21-18.

The Singaporean took the initiative early in the second game, racing to a 13-8 lead. Prannoy won five points on the trot to draw level. This time, however, Loh was not going to give Prannoy a toe-hold in the game as he stitched up back-to-back points to take the game 21-15 and force a decider.

Prannoy got off to flyer in the final game taking an 11-4 lead. However, the change of end gave Loh the advantage and he won six points to close down on Prannoy. The Indian extended his lead at 14-10 only for Loh to win six back-to-back points once again to lead in the...

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