Top Seeds Shi Yuqi and Christo Popov have suffered eliminations in the first round.
Christo Popov’s BWF World Championships campaign has ended in stunning fashion, with the Frenchman suffering a first-round defeat to Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
Popov, the world No. 5 and one of the biggest contenders for the men’s singles title, was beaten 21-17, 21-19 in 64 minutes.
The result is shocking not simply because Popov lost, but because of who he lost to.
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Nishimoto arrived at the World Championships after a remarkably difficult stretch of results. Since March, the Japanese veteran had repeatedly fallen in the opening round of major tournaments. He lost to Leong Jun Hao at the All England, went down to Shi Yu Qi at the Singapore Open, lost to Li Shi Feng at the Indonesia Open, was beaten by Alwi Farhan at the Japan Open and then suffered another straight-game defeat to Loh Kean Yew at the China Open.
His Swiss Open campaign also ended in the first round after his opponent retired. In other words, Nishimoto had spent much of the season struggling to make an impact on the World Tour.
And then, on the biggest stage, he produced one of the biggest wins of his season.
Popov, meanwhile, had every reason to enter the tournament with enormous expectations. The Frenchman has transformed himself into one of the most dangerous players in men’s singles. He won the European Championships in April, defeating world No. 3 Anders Antonsen 21-12, 21-19 in the final, and later claimed his maiden Japan Open title in July.
He had also already established himself at the very top of the sport by winning the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals, becoming the first Frenchman to win the prestigious men’s singles title.
Read: Christo Popov: World Tour Finals Champion – Decoding His Winning Formula
That made Tuesday’s defeat particularly difficult to explain. Popov actually stayed close throughout the match, but Nishimoto was the better player when it mattered. The Japanese shuttler took the opening game 21-17 before producing another composed performance in the second, closing it out 21-19 to complete a straight-game upset.
For Popov, it is another frustrating World Championships campaign. He reached the third round last year before losing a close battle to eventual champion Shi Yu Qi. This year, expectations were much higher, and his tournament is already over after just one match.
And the timing makes the upset even more extraordinary. Just one day earlier, another huge favourite suffered an even bigger shock.
World Number 1 Upset
Defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi was knocked out by India’s Ayush Shetty in the opening round. The 21-year-old Indian, making his World Championships debut, defeated Shi 21-14, 13-21, 21-19 in 73 minutes.
Read: Ayush Shetty: The 6’5″ Indian Shuttler Earning Praise from Viktor Axelsen
Shi had beaten Shetty three times previously, including a dominant victory in the Asian Championships final in April. Yet in front of a roaring home crowd in New Delhi, Shetty finally turned the tables.
Now, just 24 hours later, another leading contender has fallen.
Two of the names expected to go deep into the World Championships, the defending champion and one of the tournament’s biggest challengers are already gone.
And perhaps that is exactly what makes this World Championships so unpredictable.
For Nishimoto, it is a season-changing victory. For Popov, it is a brutal reminder that at a World Championship, reputation, ranking and recent form mean nothing once the first shuttle is in the air.
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