In a match that swung like a pendulum, HS Prannoy emerged on top to oust former world champion Loh Kean Yew and enter his third successive quarter-final at the BWF World Championships.
The ninth seeded Indian was pushed for an hour and nine minutes before winning 21-18, 15-21, 21-19 against the Singaporean at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen on Thursday. This was the world No.9’s fourth win in five meetings against the world No.7, setting up a clash on Friday with the winner of the match between defending champion and top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Chinese Taipei’s 10th seed Chou Tien Chen.
Men’s doubles second seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too remained on course for a second successive medal at the annual showpiece after ousting Indonesian 10th seeds Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin 21-15, 19-21, 21-9 in an hour and one minute. This was their second win in as many meetings against the world No.10 pairing.
Rankireddy and Shetty will next face Danish 11th seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen for a place in the semi-finals, which guarantees a medal. This will be the eighth meeting between the two pairs with the Danes having a better head-to-head record at 5-2.
However, it was the end of the road for Lakshya Sen and women’s pairing of Treesa Jolly and P Gayatri Gopichand. While 11th seeded Sen, who won a bronze in 2021, lost 14-21, 21-16, 13-21 in the Round of 16 to third seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, Treesa and Gayatri went down 14-21, 9-21 to Chinese top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan.
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