BWF World Championships: HS Prannoy Stuns Kento Momota, To Face Lakshya Sen In Round of 16

HS Prannoy stunned second seed Kento Momota in straight games to record a sensational win while reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen also sailed into the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships in Tokyo on Wednesday. Unseeded Prannoy rose above expectations to shut the door on crowd favourite and two-time former world champion Momota 21-17, 21-16 in a second round tie. Incidentally, it was Prannoy's first win over Momota in eight matches. In their previous clashes, the Indian won only one game against his higher-rated Japanese rival.

Earlier in he day, reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen sailed into the pre-quarterfinals with a straight game win over Spain's Luis Penalver.

The young Indian badminton ace Sen won his second round contest 21-17 21-10, taking 72 minutes to complete the formality.

Prannoy and Sen will face each other in an all-Indian last 16 clash on Thursday.

However, last edition's runner-up Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of after a straight game defeat to world number 32 Zhao Jun Peng.

Srikanth went down against his Chinese counterpart 18-21, 17-21 in a match lasting only 34 minutes.

The 29-year-old was out of sorts in the opening game as it took only 12 minutes for Zhao to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Indian, already on the back foot, tried to up the ante in the second game and led 16-14 but too many unforced errors helped Zhao secure the victory.

The young Indian badminton ace Sen won his second round contest 21-17 21-10, taking 72 minutes to complete the formality.

After trailing 3-4, the ninth seeded Sen grabbed a six-point lead to be 13-7. The Indian continued to stay ahead before comfortably wrapping up the first game.

Sen, a world championship bronze