Sindhu, Praneeth, Pranaav-Sikki win at World Championships

Glasgow: On a day, when World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei's stunning first round exit grabbed the spotlight, Olympic silver women's medallist PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth, one of the Indian men on a roll this season, kept India's slate clean in the singles department at the Total World Championships at the Emirates Arena on Tuesday. But some of the doubles pairs made an early exit. Also victorious were Ajay Jayaram while Saina Nehwal is the only Indian singles player not have tasted action so far. She will meet Sabrina Jaquet on Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Sindhu and 15th seed Sai Praneeth made short work of their respective rivals in straight games and then said they wanted to finish off the job as fast as possible to avoid any hiccups. Sindhu, the only Indian with two world Championships medals – both bronze in 2013 and 2014 – beat Kim Hyo Min 21-16, 21-14 in 49 minutes and Praneeth beat Wei Nan of Hong Kong 21-18, 21-17 in just a minute less.

Glasgow: Call it luck or fate, but the fact remains that Lee Chong Wei, one of the legends of badminton, continues to be without either the World Championships title or the Olympic gold medal. On Tuesday, pitted against a 31st ranked Frenchman Brice Leverdez, the Malaysian shuttling genius, Chong Wei, No. 2 in the world, crashed out 21-19, 22-24, 21-17. After his first loss in the first round in 10 World Championships Chong Wei admitted: "I put more pressure on myself and I made a lot of mistakes. I tried my best and he got lucky on a few points. I'm very disappointed." Asked if he still carried the dream of Olympics and World Championships, he said, "I don't know. Maybe tomorrow I announce my retirement. Right now my brain can't think anything." V Krishnaswamy

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, India's best hopes in the doubles defeated the Indo-Malaysian pairing Yogendran Khrishnan (Mas) and Prajakta Sawant, who has in the past played with both the Indians as her partners. Chopra and Sikki won 21-12, 21-19. Two other mixed doubles pairs, Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy lost to China's Yilyu Wang and Dongping Huang (Chn) in three games, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Maneesha K who won their first round, lost the second 20-22, 18-21 to Denmark's Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen. Praneeth was somewhat tentative in the early stages and even trailed for a while before pulling level at 13-all and 18-all. The Indian, who never allowed Wei to build a big lead won three consecutive points to seal the game.