BWF World Championships 2022: Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy register dominant win in openers

Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and HS Prannoy made a winning start to their men's singles campaigns at the BWF World Championships in Tokyo on Monday, August 22. However, former bronze medalist Sai Praneeth was shown the door early.

It was a good day for the doubles pairs as well as India registered twin wins, one each in women's doubles and mixed doubles on the opening day of the prestigious world meet in the Japanese capital.

Kidambi Srikanth was up against a tricky opponent in Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, against whom he had lost in the All England Championships in three games earlier this year. However, the reigning world championships silver medalist made sure he got the job done in straight games, albeit having worked hard for his 22-20, 21-19 win.

The



win should have been a confidence booster for Srikanth who settled for a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier in August.

Meanwhile, in-form HS Prannoy blasted past Luka Wraber of Austria 21-12, 21-11 in his men's singles opening round.

Prannoy faces a stiff test next as he takes on 2nd seed Kento Momota of Japan. Meanwhile, 12th seed Srikanth will be up against China's Zhao Jun Peng in the second round.

20-year-old Lakshya, who had returned with a bronze on his debut in Spain last year, prevailed 21-12 21-11 over an erratic Vittinghus in his opening match. He will face unseeded Luis Enrique Penalver in the 2nd round.

However, Praneeth put up a brave effort before going down 15-21 21-15 15-21 to Chen in little over an hour.