Satwik-Chirag, Sindhu enter third round at Paris Worlds

ROUND 2 (INDIANS ONLY)

- Sandip Sikdar

Having an extra day of rest and practice can do wonders for you, especially in a tight competition like the BWF World Championships. But you get this privilege only if you're seeded high up. Apart from receiving a slightly favourable draw, you also start fresh since you're handed a first-round bye.

That's exactly what happened on Wednesday. While the others were battling it out to progress in Paris in the last two days, ninth seeds Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, both having struggled with injuries and niggles this year, made good use of their first-round bye to prepare.

The result was quite evident as the world No.9 pairing was much fresher than Chinese Taipei's Liu Kuang Heng and Yang Po Han ~ they beat India’s Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi in their opener-to easily overcome them 22-20, 21-13 in 43 minutes in the men’s doubles second round.

For the second game running, PV Sindhu struggled to get going before finding her rhythm to enter the women's singles third round. The 2019 world champion beat Malaysia's world No. 40, Letshanaa Karupathevan, rallying from 12-18 in the first game to win 21-19, 21-15 in 42 minutes. Sindhu next faces Chinese second seed Wang Zhi Yi.