Badminton World Championships: Kidambi Srikanth wins first round match

Indian badminton ace Kidambi Srikanth beat Pablo Abian of Spain to begin his BWF World Championships campaign on a winning note on Sunday. 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.

Sai Praneeth, who ended a 36-year-old drought by winning the men's singles bronze medal in 2019, lost a hard fought match against Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 21-17, 7-21, 18-21.

The Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, however, lost in straight games against Joel Elpe and Rasmus Kjaer of Denmark in the opening round. Attri and Sumeeth lost 16-21 15-21 in 32 minutes to make an exit from the showpiece event.

Earlier in the day, the women's doubles pair of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh retired after they lost the first game 12-21 to the Dutch duo of Alyssa Tirtosentono and Imke van der Aar. Reigning champion PV Sindhu, who got a bye in the first round, will open her campaign against Martina Repiska of Slovakia.