Sindhu sails; Shetty stuns No.1
Home World Championships, opening day: PV Sindhu cruised; Ayush Shetty sent top seed Shi Yuqi out. Telangana’s star is through, and Delhi can keep its photo-ops — the badminton did the talking.
On opening day, the results came from the court.
PV Sindhu opened India’s home BWF World Championships with a 21-7, 21-11 win over Ireland’s Sophia Noble, advancing to the second round in 29 minutes, according to a tournament-day report. The BWF event listing confirms the championships run 17–23 August in India.
The shock of the day was Ayush Shetty beating top seed Shi Yuqi 21-14, 13-21, 21-19 in the men’s singles first round, as reported. Gayatri Gopichand–Treesa Jolly swept Spain’s Paula Lopez–Lucia Rodriguez 21-9, 21-13, and the men’s doubles pair Hariharan Amsakarunan–M.R. Arjun also moved through, per the same report. Sindhu is slated to face Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang next.
For Telangana, the headline is simple: Sindhu looked sharp on day one. The badminton federation has the event here; the players delivered the results; and the usual Delhi chest‑thumping can wait for a podium. The BJP at the Centre loves a selfie with a medal — it can start by funding coaching pipelines year‑round. Congress and TDP can save their tweets too; Telangana’s athletes keep showing up without their help. The winners’ list is public; the ribbon‑cutters aren’t on it.