BWF World Badminton Championship: India’s Badminton is on a high at the moment especially in the men’s section. With Srikanth having been a constant all these years within the top bracket of the World Rankings, Lakshya Sen’s emergence and HS Prannoy’s redemption this year augurs well for India as all the three players find themselves within the Top 20 in the World rankings. However at the World Championships which will begin at Tokyo on 22nd August, all the three players are placed in the same quarter that has put the Indian Badminton team in a fix. Follow BWF World Championships LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN.
BWF World Badminton Championship: Indian Badminton team in FIX as Lakshya, Srikanth, Prannoy all placed in SAME QUARTER: Check OUT
Lakshya Sen has had a breakthrough year this season. Having won the bronze medal in his maiden World Championships appearance last year, the 20-year old started the year by winning his maiden BWF Super series title at the Indian Open and went on to finish as runner-up at All England Championship and German Open – a tournament in which he defeated World No.1 Viktor Axelsen in the semifinal.
His brilliant performances saw him surpass Kidambi Srikanth and break into the Top 10 in the World rankings. He is currently the World No.10 at the moment and enters the World Championships 2022 after winning the Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy has made rapid rise this year in the BWF tour. He has been consistently making his way into the quarterfinals and beyond, challenging some of the top shuttlers in the world. His best performance so far this year is a runner-up finish at Swiss Open. He has reached a ranking of World No.18 currently. These two shuttlers have enjoyed better season compared to Srikanth this year. However in another few days they might run in against each other at the World Championships even before the quarterfinal as they are placed in a very tough quarter.
Lakshya Sen is the ninth seed and Srikanth is seeded 12th and along with the unseeded HS Prannoy, they find themselves in the quarter that also has Second seed Kento Momota, who will be playing in front of his home crowd and Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia who will enter the tournament after a special preparation that he undertook after opting out of the Commonwealth Games.
Srikanth faces Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the first round. Though a lesser ranked opponent, the Irish beat Srikanth in their last meeting last year at the All England Championships. He could possible run into China’s 23rd ranked Zhao Junpeng in the second round. If he wins against the Chinese, he is likely to face fifth seed Lee Zii Jia for a spot in the quarterfinals. The Malaysian leads the head-to-head record 2-0 against Srikanth. If Srikanth surpasses that challenge then he would possibly face Kento Momota in the quarterfinal.
12th seed Lakshya Sen faces Denmark’s Hans Kristian Vittinghus in the first round of the tournament. He can breathe easy in the second round as he will face lower ranked Daniel Nikolov or Luis Penalver in the second round. In the third round he is likely to go up against World No.2 Kento Momota. The Japanese leads the head-to-head record 2-1 but Lakshya has won their previous meeting at the 2021 BWF World Tour as Momota retired due to an injury.
Meanwhile, Prannoy would face the Japanese in the second round itself. Prannoy begins his campaign against Denmark’s Luka Wraber and will have to face Momota in the second round. Prannoy trails 0-7 against the Japanese in the head-to-head record and will look to script his maiden victory against the World No.2.
All Srikanth and Lakshya Sen would hope in the first place is not to play Kento Momota at all in the tournament and it all depends on how Prannoy fares against the Japanese in the second round. However one thing which is certain is that only one among the top three players in men’s singles will advance to the semifinal of the tournament. Sai Praneeth is the only other Indian in the draw and he faces World No.4 Chou Tien-chen in the very first round of the tournament.
BWF World Badminton Championship: Indian Badminton team in FIX as Lakshya, Srikanth, Prannoy all placed in SAME QUARTERS: Check OUT
