Badminton World Championships: HS Prannoy, Sai Praneeth Advance To The Third Round

India men's badminton star HS Prannoy stunned five-time world champion Lin Dan of China in the second round to advance to the third round of BWF World Championships on Tuesday in Basel, Switzerland. Prannoy will take on world No.1 and defending champion Kento Momota in the third round. In another match, Sai Praneeth defeated experienced Korean shuttler Lee Dong Keun, the former world No.16, in the second round to advance to the third round. 

Prannoy got off to a great start and was leading the first round 21-11. Thereafter, Lin Dan made a solid comeback and ended the second game with a 21-12 tally. The decider was dominated by Prannoy against the two-time Olympic champion and he clinched it 21-7 to reach the third round. Notably, this was the third time that Prannoy defeated Lin Dan. He had outclassed the Chinese in Indonesia Open in 2018 and French Open in 2015.

Praneeth defeated Lee Dong Keun 21-16, 21-15 in a match that lasted for 56 minutes.

Praneeth was tremendous in the first game with his quality strokes and took a 21-16 lead in the opening game. The second game saw some errors from Praneeth, gifting some points to Lee Dong Keun. Praneeth, however, came back strong to close up the second game 21-15 in impressive fashion. 

Praneeth had earlier outshined Dong Keun in Australian Open in 2019 and Singapore Open in 2017. He also suffered defeats by him two times in Japan Open in 2017 and 2015. 

Earlier on Monday, Kidambi Srikanth, Prannoy and Sai Praneeth won their respective matches in the preliminary round of the World Championships to advance to the second round.

Srikanth came from behind to beat Ireland's Nhat Nguyen 17-21, 21-16, 21-6 in the first round. World No. 19 Praneeth beat lower-ranked Jason Anthony Ho-Shue of Canada 21-17, 21-16 while Prannoy had defeated Finland's Eetu Heino 17-21, 21-10, 21-11 in the preliminary round.