India's top three men's singles players - Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy - started their BWF World Championships campaign with wins on Monday.
India also registered twin wins in women's and mixed doubles competition on the opening day in Tokyo, however B Sai Praneeth bow out after losing in three games to world No 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen continued his impressive run, trouncing Danish Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in straight games to the second round. The 20-year-old, who had returned with a bronze on his debut in Spain last year, prevailed 21-12, 21-11 over an erratic Vittinghus in his opening match. Sen will next face Luis Enrique Penalver of Spain.
Birmingham CWG bronze medallist Srikanth, seeded 12th, had to toil in his 22-20, 21-19 win over Nhat Nguyen of Ireland, while Prannoy secured a dominating 21-12 21-11 win over Luka Wraber of Austria. Srikanth will face Zhao Jun Peng of China in the second round while Prannoy will be up against second see Kento Momota of Japan.
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Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy progressed to the women's doubles second round with a 21-7, 21-9 win over Maldives' Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq and Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq. Ashwini and Sikki will face an uphill task against top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in the second round. In another women's doubles match, Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh beat Ines Lucia Salazar and Paula Regal of Peru 21-6, 10-21, 21-14.
In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar defeated German duo of Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann 21-13 21-13 in 29 minutes to also make a positive start to their campaign. The Indian pair will meet 14th seeds Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand next.
Sen, seeded ninth, played some exceptional cross court returns to trouble the 36-year-old Dane, who had come into the match with a 2-1 head-to-head count against the Indian. A relentless Vittinghus kept testing the Indian by engaging him in fast-paced rallies, one of which was of 31 shots, but Sen used his winners to finish them off or the Danish miscued.
In the mid-game interval of second game, Sen again managed a four-point advantage after Vittinghus sent one wide, and slapped his head in frustration. At 11-15, Vittinghus made Sen twist and turn with his angled returns to win a point, but he was too erratic to put any pressure on his opponent. Soon, five straight points took Sen to match points and he sealed it with a smash.
Praneeth, a 2019 bronze medallist, put up a brave effort before going down 15-21, 21-15, 15-21 to Chen in little over an hour. It was yet another forgettable outing in Tokyo for Praneeth, following his struggles at last year's Olympic Games, where he participated without a proper coach or physio to bow out early.
Among others, B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri lost 11-21 21-19 15-21 to Masayuki Onodera and Hiroki Okamura in men's doubles.
In women's singles, Malvika Bansod also bowed out in the opening round after losing 14-21 12-21 to Denmark's Line Christophersen.