BWF World Tour Finals – Sindhu vs Christophersen LIVE, Srikanth Wins Opening Match: It was a hoity-toity day for India as three Indians won their opening matches. India’s young sensation Lakshya Sen progressed to the knockout stages as two players from Group A, Kento Momota and Rasmus Gemke pulled out with injuries. Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu made a winning start to their BWF World Tour Finals campaign as they defeated Toma Junior Popov of France and Line Christophersen of Denmark respectively in their opening matches. However, both the Women’s and Men’s Doubles pair lost their respective matches. Follow InsideSport.IN for all LIVE Updates on BWF World Tour Finals.
Lakshya Sen wins against Kento Momota (Momota Retired)
India’s young sensation Lakshya Sen won his first Group A match against World No.1 Kento Momota as the latter retired in the first few minutes of the play itself. The match lasted for only one minute in whole and the scoreline read 1-1 when Momota retired.
Youngest 🇮🇳 shuttler to qualify for #WorldTourFinals– @lakshya_sen was handed over win in his first group stage encounter as 🇯🇵’s Kento Momota retired in 1st game at #BWFWorldTourFinals2021.#IndiaontheRise#Badminton#BaliFinals2021 pic.twitter.com/ha2MvsEBQa
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 1, 2021
Satwik / Chirag lose to Kim Astrup/ Anders Rasmussen (DEN)
The men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 21-16, 21-5 to the Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen playing in their opening match.
“Why do we fall?”
“So that we can learn to pick ourselves up”Just a bad day at office for our MD pair @Shettychirag04 & @satwiksairaj. Comeback stronger in next 2 guys 💪
Final score: 16-21, 5-21#WorldTourFinals2021#Badminton pic.twitter.com/dVhTRSFcpj
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 1, 2021
BWF World Tour Finals, Day 1 Highlights: Stunning win for Lakshya Sen against World No 1 Kento Momota; Sindhu, Srikanth also make winning starts
PV Sindhu beats Line Christophersen 21-14, 21-16 in 38 minutes
Game 2: PV Sindhu continued her dominance despite the Danish player fighting hard and clinched the second game 21-16. The Indian shuttler took the game in the second half with consecutive points.
Game 1: Sindhu scored the first point of the game as she caught Christophersen short on defense. The Indian shuttler kept the lead (11-8) to herself in the first 8 minutes. Sindhu capitalized on the lead and took the game 21-14. Sindhu has looked in attacking touch right from the beginning in this match.
Perfect start for @Pvsindhu1 at #BWFWorldTourFinals2021 💥
Reigning world champion laid out fluent attack along with solid defence to comfortably take the first group stage clash 21-14, 21-16 against 🇩🇰’s Line Christophersen 👊
Keep going champ! 🔝👍#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/TfxLi43Ycq
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 1, 2021
BWF World Tour Finals, Day 1 Highlights: Stunning win for Lakshya Sen against World No 1 Kento Momota; Sindhu, Srikanth also make winning starts
Srikant Makes Winning Start: Kidambi Srikanth won his opening match in BWF World Tour Finals beating young Toma Junior Popov (France). Srikant did not break much sweat as he defeated the Frenchman 21-14, 21-16.
🇮🇳 @srikidambi off to a blistering start at #BWFWorldTourFinals2021 😍
Excellent attack, delicate netplay by him to dominate the 1st group stage match 21-14, 21-16 against 🇫🇷’s Toma Junior Popov 💪
Keep it up champ! 🔝👍#IndiaontheRise#Badminton #BaliFinals2021 pic.twitter.com/9ox9LDThwB
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) December 1, 2021
Srikanth who is placed in Group B can now win 1 of the next 2 matches against Lee Zii Jia or Kunlavut Vitidsarn & can secure a big paycheque and place in the semi-finals.
BWF World Tour Finals: Kidambi Srikanth defeats Popov in opening Group B fixture
Indians in Action at BWF WORLD TOUR FINALS: It will be the best ever representation for India at the year-end tournament with as many as seven of them qualifying for the USD 1.5 Million Event
- PV Sindhu beats Line Christophersen (Denmark) 21-14, 21-16
- Kidambi Srikanth beat Toma Junior Popov (France) 21-14, 21-16
- Lakshya Sen beats Kento Momota (Japan) 1-1 (Momota Retired)
- Satwik / Chirag lose to Kim Astrup/ Anders Rasmussen (DEN) 16-21, 5-21
- Ponnappa / Sikki Reddy lost to Nami Matsuyama / Chiharu Shida (Japan) 14-21, 18-21
BWF World Tour Finals: Pair of Ponnappa, Sikki Reddy lose opening Group B game
BWF World Tour Finals: Stunning win for Lakshya Sen after World No 1 Kento Momota retires with injury; Sindhu, Srikanth also make winning starts
The only Indian to win the prestigious title in 2018, reigning world champion Sindhu was a finalist at the event the year before and she will look for another good outing when she opens her campaign against top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in group A.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, has been consistent with three semifinal finishes in the last three events and is likely to make it to the knockout stage.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad is expected to finish among the top two in the group as she has a good record against the other two opponents — Denmark’s Line Christophersen and Germany’s Yvonne Li.
Srikanth, only the fourth player ever to win four Super Series titles in a year, has looked in good touch in the last few events with semifinal finishes at Indonesia Masters and Hylo Open.
BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu gets easy draw, Lakshya Sen clubbed together with Axelsen & Momota – Follow Live Updates
BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu gets easy draw, Lakshya Sen clubbed together with Axelsen & Momota – Follow Live Updates
The former world No.1 had reached the knockout stage of the year-ending event in 2014 and he will look to relive those moments when he begins his campaign against Malaysia’s second seed Lee Zii Jia in group B which also comprises France’s Toma Junior Popov and Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
Debutants Lakshya and Satwik-Chirag have been clubbed in the ‘group of death’ and it will be extremely tough for them to qualify for the next stage.
Lakshya, who had won five titles in 2019, has been clubbed in Group A with top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan, and Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.
BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu gets easy draw, Lakshya Sen clubbed together with Axelsen & Momota – Follow Live Updates
The 20-year-old from Almora, who had reached the finals of Dutch Open and achieved semifinal results at the Denmark Masters and Hylo Open, will open against Rasmus.
World No.11 Satwik and Chirag will face top seeded Indonesians Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, world No.3 Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin and world No.10 Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in group A.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini and Sikki will have to compete with Japan’s second seeds Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, Bulgaria’s Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva, and Chloe Birch and lauren Smith of England for a place in the knockout stage.
Groupings: Men’s Singles:
Group A: Viktor Axelsen, Rasmus Gemke, Kento Momota, Lakshya Sen
Group B: Lee Zii Jia, Srikanth Kidambi, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Toma Junior Popov
Women’s Singles:
Group A: Pornpawee Chochuwong, PV Sindhu, Yvonne Li, Line Christophersen
Group B: Akane Yamaguchi, Busanan Ongbamrungphan, An Se-young, Yeo Jia Min
Men’s Doubles:
Group A: Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Kim Astrup/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, Lee Yang/ Wang Chi-lin, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty
Group B: Takuro Hoki/ Yugo Kobayashi, Ong Yew Sin/ Teo Ee Yi, Pramudya Kusumawardana, Yeremia Rambitan, Christo Popov/ Toma Junior Popov.
Women’s Doubles:
Group A: Nami Matsuyama / Chiharu Shida, Gabriela Stoeva/ Stefani Stoeva, Chloe Birch/ Lauren Smith, Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy
Group B: Yuta Watanabe/ Arisa Higashino, Mathias Christiansen/ Alexandra Bøje, Tan Kian Meng/ Lai Pei Jing, Chan Peng Soon/ Goh Liu Ying
BWF World Tour Finals: PV Sindhu gets easy draw, Lakshya Sen clubbed together with Axelsen & Momota – Follow Live Updates
Editors pick
