Huelva: It was a smooth start to the 2021 BWF World Championships for China’s World No. 27 Lu Guang Zu, who advanced to the second round with a 21-16, 21-12 win over World No. 18 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
Facing Vitidsarn who just finished runner-up at the BWF World Tour Finals two weeks ago in Bali, Indonesia, Lu was playing patiently, kept attacking Vitidsarn’s backhand baseline to lead the whole first set and score the game-point by killing a net shot returned by Vitidsarn.
Lu continued to force Vitidsarn to commit unforced errors by pressuring his backhand baseline area and eventually won the second game when Vitidsarn’s hit the shuttlecock into the net.
The 25-year-old Chinese player will face No. 4 seed, Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan in the second round. Chou overcame Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand 21-12, 21-10 on Sunday.
Emotion was high for Netherlands’ World No. 28 Mark Caljouw after the Dutch pulled off an upset win over No. 14 seed B. Sai Praneeth of India 17-21, 21-7, 21-18.
Caljouw will face Kalle Koljonen of Finland in the next round.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s World No. 73 Cheam June Wei who quit the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) on Nov 13, 2021, ran out of steam in the second round to go down to Japan’s No. 15 seed Kenta Nishimoto 17-21, 8-21. This was the first tournament Cheam competed as an independent player.
In women’s singles, Kisona Selvaduray’s World Championships campaign was cut short in the first round as the World No. 59 Malaysian went down to World No. 28 Neslihan Yigit of Turkey 14-21, 15-21.
