New Delhi, August 18: India’s top women’s doubles combination of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly upset 16th seeds Allison Lee and Lauren Lam with yet another solid performance on the second day of the BWF World Badminton Championships 2026 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here on Tuesday.
In singles, 2021 bronze medallist Lakshya Sen and debutant Unnati Hooda sealed their designated spots in the second round with contrasting wins over their respective opponents.
Commonwealth Games medallists Gayatri and Treesa, currently ranked 39th in the world, packed off Lam and Lee 21-15, 21-12 in 39 minutes to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
The Indian combination was brilliant overall, with Gayatri controlling the net with aplomb and Treesa mixing her soft drops with those booming smashes to keep the Americans on their toes. After the initial exchanges, the home favourites opened up a 6-2 lead by bagging four straight points and then maintained the advantage to wrap up the first game.
Playing from the better side in the second game, Treesa and Gayatri clinched seven straight points from 5-4 to take a 12-4 lead, and though the Americans did show some moments of brilliance, they could never really make a comeback in the match.
In the women’s singles opening round, Unnati initially struggled to adjust to the conditions and trailed Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar 13-16 in the opening game before coming back strong to win 22-20, 21-16 to set up a second round clash against 13th seed Michelle Li of Canada. Li also needed extra points in the opening game before beating Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian 22-20, 21-12.
Later in the day, 14th seed Sen took time to find his stride as Austria’s Collins Filimon used his height and dominated the opening game. But Lakshya dominated the second and third games to win 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 to advance to the next round.
Playing from the difficult side in the opening game, Sen was tentative with his lifts, and world number 128 Filimon used his big smashes to take the first game. But once Sen settled down in the second game, he clinched 11 straight points from 10-8 to draw level. Sen then gave the Romania-born Filimon a lesson in controlled aggression as he changed side at 11-1 and then wrapped up the match without much ado.
“I was a bit tentative in the first game because I was playing from the difficult side and was struggling to get used to the conditions. But in the second game, I knew that I would be playing from the better side, and once I found the range of my shots it was quite easy,” said Sen, who will now face Garret Tan of the USA in the second round.
Among the other top players, fifth seed Christo Popov of France was knocked out by Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-17, 21-19 in men’s singles while former champion Nozomi Okuhara came from a game down to beat Ozge Bayrak of Turkey 18-21, 21-16, 21-9 and fourth seed Chen Yufei of China overcame a tentative start to beat Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy 18-21, 21-8, 21-11.
It was a disappointing end to the world championships debut for the mixed doubles combination of Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh as they failed to convert nine match points across the second and third games and went down 16-21, 30-29, 24-22 against Turkey’s Emre Sonmez and Yasemen Bektas.
Important results:
Men’s Singles: 14-Lakshya Sen (IND) bt Collins Filimon (AUT) 16-21, 21-8, 21-4; Kenta Nishimoto (JPN) bt 5-Christo Popov (FRA) 21-17, 21-19; 3-Jonatan Christie (INA) bt Matthias Kicklitz (GER) 21-15, 21-14
Women’s Singles: Unnati Hood (IND) bt Thet Htar Thuzar (MYA) 22-20, 21-16; 4-Chen Yufei (CHN) bt Lo Sin Yan Happy (HKG) 18-21, 21-8, 21-11; 11-Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) bt Ozge Bayrak (TUR) 18-21, 21-16, 21-9
Men’s Doubles: 4-Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik (MAS) bt Peeratchai Sukphun/Pakkapon Teeraratsakul (THA) 15-21, 21-11, 21-18
Women’s Doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand (IND) bt Lauren Lam/Allison Lee (USA) 21-15, 21-12; Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (BUL) bt Kavipriya Selvam/Simran Singhi (IND) 21-7, 21-14
Mixed Doubles: Jonathan Lai/Crystal Lai (CAN) bt Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani Gadde (IND) 20-22, 21-19, 21-17; Emre Sonmez/Yasemen Bektas (TUR) bt Ashith Surya/Amrutha Pramuthesh (IND) 16-21, 30-29, 24-22
–IANS
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