Anand Datla

Ayush Shetty stood at the far end of the court, a few points from the most important victory of his career, while Shi Yu Qi began to make the match look familiar again. Shi, China’s world No. 1 and the defending champion, had been close to beaten before. He had also beaten Shetty in each of their first three meetings, most recently in the Badminton Asia Championships final in April. That one lasted 40 minutes. Shi won it without strain, not on Monday.

Sports August 16, 20264 min read New Delhi has waited 17 years for the World Championships to come back. P. V. Sindhu was a teenager when Hyderabad hosted it in 2009. On Monday evening, she will walk into the first round as the ninth seed, a former world champion and the Indian player most closely watched by a crowd that expects her to make the week matter. Her opponent, Ireland’s Sophia Noble, is ranked 141st. Sindhu should win. But home World Championships are rarely as simple as a ranking line.