BWF World Championships: Lakshya Sen Survives Early Scare; Treesa-Gayatri Enter Pre-Quarters

New Delhi, August 15: Lakshya Sen suffered a near scare against Collins Filimon of Austria before finishing off the game with a win in the third game in the round of 64 of the men’s singles in the BWF World Championships 2026.

Playing in front of a frenzied home crowd at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the Indian star shuttler was expected to have a comfortable win in two straight games but had a shaky start in the opening game. Facing the 6.3-feet-tall opponent, Sen, who is 5.11 feet, got an early scare, forcing to do a course correction.

The 25-year-old Indian was expected to cruise past Filimon, but, contrary to expectations, the Austria edged past the Indian to manage a clinical win in the first game. One of the major problems that emerged in Sen’s game in the first set was a series of unforced errors, which cost him.

“I think there was a bit of wind in the stadium, and it was the first match. My tactics were not working well, and my shots, especially the ones I was playing with the net, were going very short because I was scared that they would go out,” Sen told media persons after ekeing out a win.

In the second game, Sen put up a much improved effort and changed his tactics by attacking the sides of the court with his smashes. Moreover, when he was hitting the smashes in the second game, he attacked Filimon’s body, making it difficult for his Austrian counterpart to counter-attack him, which helped him to counter the height disadvantage.

“I think I was controlling my lifts better in the second and the third game rather than in the first game, where all the lifts were lifted by the [Austrian] player. One of the major tactical changes that I did to thwart the height disadvantage was to change to lifts from the flat drives.”

He also tried to engage the Austrian shuttler in long rallies to wear him down physically. “But I think in the second set, I changed that and tried to get him into rallies.”

Coming to the third game, Filimons had already lost track of the game and was just playing for the sake of playing the game. Lakshya took advantage of this and attacked on all fronts, making his Austrian counterpart unable to even hit the double points.

Tressa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Storm Into R16

The Indian Women’s doubles player stormed into the Round of 16 of the BWF World Championships 2026, thwarting the American pairing of Lauren Lam and Allison Quýnh Lee in a quick 39-minute affair. The Indian duo won the game 21-15 & 21-12 in a straight-sets affair.

Playing back-to-back games at the BWF World Championships, the Indian duo did not look tired or worn down at all. Sharing their success mantra for such tiring back-to-back games, the women’s doubles pairing said, “It’s been good. Like, just have to go back, hydration, good night’s sleep, and yeah, just get back to the court.”

In the post-match media interaction, the women’s doubles duo shared that they were playing near the net throughout the game as a form of tactical adjustment that they tried to bring into their game against the American opponent. It had been a treat to watch both the shuttlers combine fluently near the net.

“We are working on net and back, so the combination is working pretty well. So, trying to work on that more.”

For Jolly/Gopichand, the path ahead is more uphill as they take on the 7th-seeded Japanese duo of Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.

Unnati Hooda Overcomes A Close R64 Game

Rising Indian women’s singles player Unnati Hooda overcame a scare in the first game against her Myanmar counterpart, T. Thet Htar. The Indian youngster looked a little scratchy in the game against her Myanmar counterpart, but she dismissed it in the post-match press conference and said that it was just to understand the drift.

“I was just trying to understand the drift and everything, but she was also playing; she’s very good and all. It was going neck-and-neck, uh, but yeah, I think in the last five points of the first game, I controlled and stayed patient, and then she made some mistakes.”

Unnati will next face Canadian shuttler Michelle Li, who is seeded 16th at the World Championships 2026.