BWF World Championships: HS Prannoy beats Lakshya Sen to progress to the quarterfinals

India’s star shuttler Saina Nehwal lost to Thailand’s World No. 12 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 17-21, 21-16, 13-21 in the BWF World Championships’ round of 16 in Tokyo on Thursday. Two other Indian stars Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy also clashed in the men’s singles last 16 as Prannoy defeated the all-England silver medallist 17-21, 21-16, 21-17.

30-year-old Prannoy, ranked World No. 18, will now face China’s World No. 23, Zhao Jun Peng, in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Earlier, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun continued their dream tournament by reaching their maiden quarterfinals with a come-from-behind victory while India’s No.1 pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced.

The unseeded Indian duo had to toil hard for 58 minutes to win its round of 16 clash against the Singaporeans Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean 18-21, 21-15, 21-16. Arjun and Kapila will now go head-to-head with the third seed Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the last eight stage.

The duo have had a terrific run in the tournament so far. They had upstaged eighth seeds and last edition’s bronze medallists Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-17 21-16 in their second-round match.

“We feel good. As with every match, we were prepared for this one as well. We used different tactics compared to our last match because these guys are fast on the legs so we had to be extra ready. We had many nervous situations in the game but luckily we were able to get over them,” Arjun told BWF TV after the win.

“We’re looking to go all the way through because we’ve had many close matches with good pairs. I feel this is our time, when matches are falling on our side as well.”

Satwiksairaj-Chirag won their pre-quarter-finals against Denmark’s Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede 21-12, 21-10. They will next face defending champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.

BWF World Championships is one of the most prestigious tournaments of badminton. The winners of this tournament are also crowned as "World Champions" of the sport, and are awarded a gold medal.