Tue, 18 Aug 2026 · LIVE
Updated Aug 18, 2026 · 15:06
Sports India News Updated Aug 18, 2026

Unnati Hooda Wins BWF World Championships Opener in New Delhi

Unnati Hooda began her BWF World Championships campaign with a straight-games win over Thet Htar Thuzar in New Delhi on Tuesday. She explained that she focused on understanding the drift early and stayed patient in the first set. In the second game, she noticed her attacks were faster from that end and stuck to that plan. Earlier, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Ruthvika Gadde and Rohan Kapoor lost a tense three-game match to Canada's Crystal Lai and Jonathan Lai.

Unnati Hooda starts debut BWF World C'ships campaign with win

New Delhi, August 18

Indian shuttler Unnati Hooda started off her BWF World Championships campaign with a win in the first round in New Delhi on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Unnati beat Thet Htar Thuzar 22-20, 21-16 within a matter of two successive games, as per ESPN.

Speaking after the match, Unnati said to reporters, on her judgement of the shuttle's landing on the court, "I have been playing a lot for many years, so that is the judgment. But yeah, like sometimes in drift conditions it is difficult, but I feel like here it is not that much difficult to judge if it is going out or in."

She said that in the first set, she was trying to understand the drift, and her opponent was going "neck-to-neck" with her and in the second game, she stuck to attacking and prevailed.

"In the first set, I was just trying to understand the drift and everything, but she was also playing, she was very good and all. It was going neck-and-neck, but yeah, I think in the last five points of the first game I controlled and stayed patient, and then she made some mistakes," she said.

"And then in the second game, I was able to see that from that end of the court, the attack is going faster, so I just played my game, attacking, and it helped me to stick to the plan," she added.

Earlier in the day, the Indian mixed doubles team of Ruthvika Gadde and Rohan Kapoor lost 22-20, 19-21, 17-21 in a tense campaign opener against Canada's Crystal Lai and Jonathan Lai.

— ANI

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