World Championships: Prannoy stuns world No. 2 Kento Momota

India’s HS Prannoy beat Japan’s Kento Momota in the round of 32 match in the BWF World Championships.

Japan’s Kento Momota (L) congratulates India’s Prannoy H.S. after their men’s singles match at the Badminton World Championships in Tokyo on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AFP

Unseeded H.S. Prannoy rose above expectations to shut the door on crowd favourite and two-time former world champion Kento Momota 21-17, 21-16 in the round of 32 in the BWF World Championships on Wednesday.

This was Prannoy’s first win against the Japanese in eight meetings. In their previous clashes, the Indian won only one game against his higher-rated Japanese rival.

Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out by unseeded Zhao Junpeng 21-9, 21-17 in the second round. 

Srikanth, who won bronze at the Commonwealth Games, said he “could have maybe played better” but was not as clinical as his opponent.

Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen is through to Round 3 with a win over Luis Enrique Penalver.

Reigning Commonwealth Games champion, Sen, won 21-17, 21-10.

Earlier, the Indian men’s doubles pair of M. R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila moved to the pre-quarterfinals but Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy made a second round exit from the prestigious tournament.

The unseeded Arjun and Kapila upstaged eighth seeds and last edition’s bronze medallists Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-17. 21-16 in the their second round match.

They will face Hee Yong Kai Terry and Loh Kean Hean of Singapore next.

Ponnappa and Sikki, on the other hand, were handed a 21-15, 21-10 by top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in 42 minutes.

The other women’s doubles pairing of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh’s also crashed out of the tournament, going down to third seeds Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan of Korea 15-21, 7-21.

(with inputs from PTI)