Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the pre-quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships 2026 without hitting a shuttle on Wednesday after Alexander Dunn and Adam Pringle withdrew from their scheduled men's doubles match in New Delhi.
The fifth-seeded Indian combination had been due to begin their campaign after receiving a bye in the opening round. The Scottish pair's withdrawal instead sent the country's top-ranked men's doubles team directly into the Round of 16. The Badminton Association of India confirmed the development on social media.
“The Indian pair are through to the BWF World Championships 2026 pre-quarters after receiving a walkover,” the statement read.
Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand progress too
The result added another Indian pair to the pre-quarterfinal stage after Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand secured their place in the women's doubles draw. The 39th-ranked Indians defeated Lauren Lam and Allison Lee of the United States 21-15, 21-12 in their Round of 32 encounter.
Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila also progressed in mixed doubles. They defeated Macau's Leong Iok Chon and Ng Weng Chi 21-11, 21-11 to book a place in the last 16.
Lakshya Sen was among India's successful singles players on the second day of competition. After dropping the opening game against Austria's Collins Valentine Filimon, Sen recovered strongly to win 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 in 45 minutes. Unnati Hooda also advanced in women's singles. She overcame Myanmar's Thet Htar Thuzar 22-20, 21-16 after a closely contested opening game.
Setback for India
There were setbacks elsewhere in the draw. Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi were eliminated from women's doubles by Bulgarian sisters Stefani Stoeva and Gabriela Stoeva, who won 21-7, 21-14.
India's mixed doubles challenge also lost two teams. Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh, who entered as last-minute reserves, went down to Turkiye's Emre Sonmez and Yesemen Bektas in a marathon contest. The Turkish pair won 21-16, 29-30, 22-24.
Ruthvika Gadde and Rohan Kapoor also exited after Canada’s Crystal Lai and Jonathan Lai overturned an opening-game loss. The Indians took the first game 22-20 before losing 19-21, 17-21.
With Satwik and Chirag now through without taking the court, India will have its leading men's doubles pair fresh for the pre-quarterfinal stage of the home World Championships.
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