BWF World Championships 2022: Saina Nehwal ousted in pre-quarters, Kapila-Arjun, Satwik-Chirag into quarters
The 2022 BWF World Championships continued with its pre-quarters assignments on Thursday. The Indians had a mixed day, with Saina Nehwal bowling out, while a couple of doubles pairs have progressed to the quarterfinals.
FollowOlympic bronze medallist Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was knocked out of the BWF World Championship 2022. On Thursday, she went down to Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in a hard-fought women's singles pre-quarterfinals in Tokyo. The 32-year-old perished in a three-setter 17-21, 21-16, 13-21 to her opponent, as the Thai extended her head-to-head record 5-3 against the Indian. The two Indian men's doubles pairs, Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, qualified for the quarterfinals. Saina was under pressure by Ongbamrungphan as the latter raced to an 11-3 lead in the opening game.
Saina, a two-time World Championship medallist, could bridge the gap to 17-19. Regardless, Ongbamrungphan held her nerve to take the opening game. The late surge in the earlier game gave Saina confidence, as the former world No.1 led 11-7 during the break. Playing aggressively, she persisted in dictating terms, forcing the match into a decider.
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The third game was played on an even keel until the intermission. Yet, Ongbamrungphan gained velocity and led by five points, while Saina unhurriedly began to lose steam. Eventually, the 26-year-old Ongbamrungphan had seven match points, sealing her quarterfinal berth, while she now has won her last five matches against Saina.
Later, the unseeded Indian pair of Arjun and Kapil had to labour hard for 58 minutes, as they came from behind to win the pre-quarters clash against Singapore's Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean 18-21, 21-15, 21-16. The duo has enjoyed a good run in the competition, having upstaged eighth seeds and last edition's bronze medallists, Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, 21-17, 21-16 in their Round 2 match.
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Meanwhile, Satwik and Chirag breezed past Jeppa Bay and Lasse Molhede of Denmark 21-12, 21-10 in 35 minutes. Arjun and Kapila will cross swords with the third seed pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia in the quarterfinals. At the same time, Satwik and Chirag will take on second seeds, Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, in the quarters.
(With inputs from PTI)
