World Championship Day 1, Morning Session: Initial winners bared
The opening day of the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2022 saw unseeded shuttlers advance to face the best of the lot in their respective brackets.
Let’s take a look at who moves on and who goes home after the initial morning session at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Men’s Singles: Ng sweeps Dwi Cardoyo; first upset made as Kanta falls
The first men’s singles match saw Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong needing just 40 minutes on a two-game sweep of Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Cardoyo in a minor upset at Court 2, with the former coming into the match seven places lower than the latter in the BWF rankings.
[RELATED: Dissecting the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2022 men’s singles draw]
The opening game saw Ng rack up five straight points, as well as six in the next game, to proceed to the second round, 21-16, 21-10. He will next face Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin after the latter scored a three-game upset over 13-seed Tsuneyama Kanta.
With a gap of 19 places between them, the former SEA Games bronze medalist needed an hour and 16 minutes to come from a game down to win, 13-21, 21-16, 21-13.
Women’s Doubles: Ponnappa-Reddy dispatch Abdul Razzaq sisters
It was smooth sailing for the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Nelakurihi Sikki Reddy, dispatching Maldivian sisters Aminath and Fathimath Abdul Razzaq, only needing just 21 minutes to move on to the round of 32.
A 21-7, 21-9 rout at Court 1 ensured that the world number 24 duo will take on reigning World Champions and top seeds Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan in the top half of the bracket.
The women’s singles are one of the four events that only have 48 players in their bracket, with the men’s singles having a 64-player field.
Mixed Doubles: Walkovers galore as Zilbermans take down Egyptian tandem
Israel’s family duo of the Zilbermans won their match at Court 4.
The oldest competitor in the championships, 64-year-old Svetlana, teamed up with 33-year-old son Misha in beating the Egyptian pair of Adham El Gamal and Doha Hany with their first round matchup going the full route.
It took 36 minutes for the 90th-ranked tandem to come back and fend off their foes, who ranked 51st in the world, coming from a game down to win, 16-21, 21-18, 21-11. As a reward, a tiff with eighth-seed Malaysian tandem of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing awaits them in the next round.
The Zilbermans’ win made up for the subsequent walkovers that saw two pairs move ahead without breaking a sweat.
Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Yang Ching-tun moved on after Sri Lanka’s Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa did not bother to turn up. Terry Hee and Jessica Tan of Singapore went on as England’s Callum Hemming and Jessica Pugh also withdrew.
