India’s singles exit leaves doubles to carry hopes at BWF World Championships in New Delhi
India's singles campaign at the BWF World Championships ended when P.V. Sindhu and Ayush Shetty were eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, while two Indian doubles pairs advanced to the quarterfinals.
The day began and ended with Indian victories but saw contrasting fortunes across disciplines: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-16, 21-12 to reach the women’s doubles quarterfinals, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty edged past Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap 21-23, 21-19, 21-17 to move into the men’s doubles last eight; meanwhile Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 21-16, 21-5 to China’s Guo Xinn Wa and Chen Fang Hui.
P.V. Sindhu’s pre-quarterfinal against World No. 3 Wang Zhi Yi lasted 88 minutes and ended 21-11, 15-21, 21-17 in Wang’s favour, with long rallies featuring prominently—the longest rally reached 54 shots and 40-plus rallies occurred repeatedly. Wang, playing from the slower side, applied sustained defence, used flat drives and deceptive cross-court drops at key moments, and after a medical time-out for a left-leg cramp at 15-15 in the decider—followed by another moment when she was seen clutching her right thigh—closed out the match.
Ayush Shetty was beaten by Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan 21-19, 21-11, failing to convert chances against an opponent who raised his level on Thursday; the report notes that when the two last met at the China Open, Ayush had prevailed in three games. The Indian men’s singles exit, together with Sindhu’s defeat, ended India’s run in the singles events at the pre-quarterfinal stage.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand produced a roller-coaster opening game against the Japanese pair, turning a 13-9 lead into a 13-16 deficit after seven straight points against them before winning eight consecutive points to take the game 21-16 and following up with a 21-12 second game. Their progression to the quarterfinals marks the best-ever showing for an Indian women’s doubles team at these Championships; they became the first Indian women’s doubles team to reach the last eight since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who remain the only Indian women’s pair to have won a medal in the event, in 2015.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, returning to competitive action after almost three months, ceded the first game 21-23, regrouped to win the second 21-19 and closed out the decider 21-17, with the match report noting a rotation of duties between the two—Chirag taking on much of the back-court work and winners while Satwik contributed—and a vocal late-night crowd providing a boost as they recovered from a rusty start.
Other notable results listed from Thursday’s programme included Victor Lai (Can) beating Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 22-20, 21-18; Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) defeating Garret Tan (USA) 21-10, 21-10; An Se Young (Kor) overcoming Mia Blichfeldt (Den) 21-16, 21-10; Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) beating Ishika Jaiswal (USA) 21-11, 13-21, 21-12; and doubles and mixed doubles outcomes such as Sze Fei Goh & Nur Izzuddin (Mas) 21-17, 21-17 over Hsiang Chieh Chiu & Chi-Lin Wang (Tpe), Febriana Kusuma & Meilysa Puspitasari (Ina) 20-22, 21-18, 21-12 over Pearly Tan & Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas), Feng Yan Zhe & Huang Dong Ping (Chn) 21-19, 21-18 over Yuta Watanabe & Maya Taguchi (Jpn), and Dechapol Puavaranukroh & Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) 17-21, 21-12, 21-17 over Yuichi Shimogami & Sayaka Hobara (Jpn).
With Sindhu and Ayush eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals, India’s remaining players in the competition are the two doubles pairs who have advanced to the quarterfinals and will contest the last eight in their respective categories.