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India's HS Prannoy defeated former champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore to enter the quarter-finals of the BWF World Badminton Championships 2023 for the third time in a row. He became the second Indian male player after Prakash Padukone (1880, 1983, and 1985) to reach three consecutive quarter-finals.
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World number nine Prannoy registered a 21-18, 15-21, 21-19 win in the BWF World Championships 2023 pre-quarterfinals. In the quarter-finals of the 2021 edition, Prannoy was defeated by Loh Kean Yew, who ultimately went on to win the title by defeating former world number one Kidambi Srikanth. Prannoy took his revenge at the current edition in a closely-fought contest.
The 2023 season has by far been Prannoy's most successful year. He won his first BWF Tour title, Malaysia Masters, and reached the final of the Australian Open this year. After back-to-back quarters losses, Prannoy will now face world number one Viktor Axelsen in the quarters to book the semifinal berth.
Satwik-Chirag beats Indonesian pair
On the other hand, India's star pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have also entered the BWF World Championships 2023 quarterfinals. With this, the pair is just one step away from the medal. In doubles, the pairs that reach the semi-finals get medals. Apart from gold and silver, the third and fourth-place pairs will get bronze.
Satwik-Chirag won in three games over Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin. The Indian pair came from behind in the Round of 16 match to beat the 10th-ranked Indonesian pair 21-15, 19-21, 21-9 in just over an hour. They will next take on the Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen in the BWF World Championships 2023 quarterfinals for the place in semis.
Treesa-Gayatri faces defeat in quarters
Earlier, the Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out in a hard-fought women's doubles quarterfinal match against Qing Chen Chen and Yi Fan Jia of China. The pair could have ensured a medal by reaching the BWF World Championships 2023 semi-finals but it did not happen.
The world number 19 Indian pair had reached the semi-finals of the All-England Championship in the last two seasons. But they could not face a stronger opponent than themselves. They were defeated by the Chinese pair 21-14, 21-9 in straight games within 42 minutes. This was only the second match between the two pairs. Last year in the German Open, the world number one Chinese pair had also defeated the Indian pair.