Indian Shuttlers Lose In Doubles In World Championships

Two Indian pairs suffered straight game defeats to make first round exits from the BWF World Badminton Championship Huelva (Spain) on Monday. The Indian duo of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan suffered a crushing 8-21 4-21 loss to Denmark's Mathias Thyrri and Mai Surrow, the mixed doubles first round match lasting barely 21 minutes in all.

Then, in a men's doubles match, India's Arun George and Sanyam Shukla lost to the Chinese duo of Ou Xuan Yi and Zhang Nan 15-21 14-21. The winners took just 32 minutes to seal the match in their favour and progress to the next round of the prestigious tournament.

MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are due to take on Danish pair Daniel Lundgaard and Mathias Thyrri in India's second men's doubles match of the day.

HS Prannoy will play Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus in a men's singles match later in the evening.

On Sunday, Kidambi Srikanth defeated Pablo Abian of Spain to begin his campaign on a winning note. The 12th seeded Indian beat the local challenger 21-12 21-16 in 36 minutes in the first round of the men's singles event.

The Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, however, lost 16-21 15-21 to Joel Elpe and Rasmus Kjaer of Denmark in the opening round.

The women's doubles pair of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh had retired after they lost the first game 12-21 to the Dutch duo of Alyssa Tirtosentono and Imke van der Aar.