BWF World Championships: Saina Nehwal backs out, Indian pair Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun reach their maiden quarters

Saina Nehwal bowed out while MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila marched on to their maiden quarters at the BWF World Championships (Image Source: Twitter)

Busanan Ongbamrungphan from Thailand thumped Indian star and veteran Saina Nehwal in the round of 16's at the BWF World Championships with a score line of 17-21, 21-16, 13-21 on Thursday.

Lakshya Sen succumbed to HS Prannoy's aggressive prowess with a score line of 17-21, 21-16, 21-17. This makes the road tougher for Prannoy as he'll face world number 23 Zhao Jun Peng from China in the quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships. 

On the other hand, India's best duo, Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun carried forward the momentum from the second round of the Badminton Worlds to make it to their maiden quarter-finals. After defeating Denmark's pair Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the second round of the event, they faced Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean from Singapore. 

It was a heavyweight match as the duo from both countries looked strong enough to clinch the win. However, it was the Indian duo that persisted till the end and won it eventually. The Kapila-Arjun duo thrashed Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean with a score line of 18-21, 21-15, 21-16 to make it to the final eight stage. 

However, things won't be easy for them again as they'll face Indonesian heavyweights Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in their maiden quarter-finals. The duo have a long history of failing in the deciding rounds and that pressure might make it worse for them. 

We feel good: MR Arjun

MR Arjun spoke to BWF TV after the match and said that the win felt good for the duo. He took it behind the scenes and said that they worked hard for the match. The star added that the opponents were fast and said that they had to be ready for it.

"We feel good. As with every match, we were prepared for this one as well. We used different tactics compared to our last match because these guys are fast on the legs so we had to be extra ready. We had many nervous situations in the game but luckily we were able to get over them,” he said after the match.

"We’re looking to go all the way through because we’ve had many close matches with good pairs. I feel this is our time, when matches are falling on our side as well," Arjun concluded.