BWF Badminton World Championships 2022, as it happened: Day 1 - Momota, Axelsen, Lee through; Japan's Nishimoto Kenta stuns No. 3 seed Anders Antonsen

The 27th BWF World Championships in badminton have begun in Tokyo, Japan, with first-round action underway across the five events of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles on Monday, 22 August 2022.

Among those in action on the opening day of the Championships at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium were the world numbers one and two Viktor Axelsen and Momota Kento, who both sealed safe passage through to the second round.

The day's biggest upset went to home hope Nishimoto Kenta, who stunned world number three Anders Antonsen of Denmark. Elsewhere, big names such as Lee Zii Jia, Chou Tien-chen, Jonatan Christie, Anthony Ginting, and Loh Kean Yew all made it through.

Olympics.com carried live updates throughout the day from the Japanese capital, which you can re-live below.

All times below are Japan Standard Time (UTC/GMT +9 hours). Most recent updates at the top.

22:35 - Paul seals straight-games win

And George Julien Paul brings Day 1 of the 2022 World Championships to a close with a straight-games 21-16, 21-16 win.

Here are the timings for selected key matches from tomorrow:

Legend: MS – men's singles; WS – women's singles; MD – men's doubles; WD – women's doubles; XD – mixed doubles

Court 1:

• Match 2, 9am session: MS – Chou Tien-chen (TPE) vs Jason Anthony Ho-Shue (CAN)
• Match 5, not before 11am: WS – Saina Nehwal (IND) vs Cheung Ngan Yi (HKG)
• Match 6, not before 11am: MS – Rasmus Gemke (DEN) vs Shi Yuqi (CHN)
• Match 8, not before 11am: MS – Jonatan Christie (INA) vs Kai Schaefer (GER)
• Match 10, not before 2pm: XD – Mathias Christiansen / Alexandra Bøje (DEN) vs Yamashita Kyohei / Shinoya Naru (JPN)
• Match 12, not before 2pm: WS – Yamaguchi Akane (JPN) vs Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA)

Court 2:

• Match 5, not before 11am: MS – Wang Tzu-wei (TPE) vs Lu Guangzu (CHN)
• Match 7, not before 11am: MS – Viktor Axelsen (DEN) vs Mark Caljouw (NED)
• Match 8, not before 11am: WS – An Seyoung (KOR) vs Thuy Linh Nguyen (VIE)
• Match 12, not before 2pm: XD – Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong (CHN) vs Ties van der Lecq / Debora Jille (NED)

Court 3:

• Match 9, not before 11am: WS – Carolina Marín (ESP) vs Wen Yu Zhang (CAN)
• Match 10, not before 2pm: XD – Tan Kian Meng / Lai Pei Jing (MAS) vs Misha Zilberman / Svetlana Zilberman (ISR)
• Match 12, not before 2pm: WS – He Bingjiao (CHN) vs Iris Wang (USA)

Court 4:

• Match 7, not before 11am: MS – Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (INA) vs Georges Julien Paul
• Match 9, not before 11am: XD – Wang Yilyu / Huang Dongping (CHN) vs Chen Tang Jie / Peck Yen Wei (MAS)

22:28 - Ginting awaits last day 1 winner

The sole remaining match still underway is between Mauritius' Georges Julien Paul and Luis Armando Montoya Navarro of Mexico.

The prize at stake? A second-round match against Indonesian heavyweight Anthony Ginting.

22:20 - Loh safely through after early scare

After that early scare repeated itself in the second game – Abian led 6-3 in the second before Loh rolled off 12 of the next 14 points to take a 15-8 advantage – the defending champion is through.

Loh Kean Yew sees off Abian 21-12, 21-12, and will play Olympic semi-finalist Kevin Cordón of Guatemala in the second round on Wednesday.

22:06 - Loh overcomes slow start to dominate

The defending champion from Singapore, Loh Kean Yew, didn't get out of the blocks quickly against his Spanish opponent.

Maybe it has to do with having waited all day and not knowing when or on which court he would play on, but Loh fell 8-5 behind in the opening game.

Then it seemed like a spark lit inside him as he took the next 14 points in a row, before winning the opener 21-12.

22:01 - Reaction from Kidambi Srikanth

"It was a good one, and coming from Commonwealth Games I didn't really get too much time to practise.

"First rounds are very important for me and just really happy with how it went. It could have been a little (more) comfortable maybe in the second.

"I think I kind of did four or five smash mistakes and then three, four mistakes from the net which were pretty easy. Otherwise just very happy with the way it went. It was a very close first set and after trailing 20-19 just happy I could take the next three points.

"(The courts) are a little slower, for sure, that's what you expect in Japan. Big, massive halls so they're a little slower, but conditions are okay."

21:55 - Kidambi dispatches Nguyen

It took him 50 minutes, but the 12th seed is through to the second round.

Kidambi holds off Nguyen to win 22-20, 21-19, and book himself a round-of-32 date with China's Zhao Junpeng.

Meanwhile on court 4, the defending champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore faces Spain's Pablo Abian.

21:46 - Kidambi settled

The Indian eventually held on for first-set victory against Nguyen 22-20 and looks to have grown into the game.

A lot more settled from Kidambi, who has not trailed in the second game and leads 16-13.

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS – Sen def. Vittinghus

21:22 - Nguyen pushing Kidambi

Kidambi Srikanth is not having this all his own way.

The Indian 12th seed is locked in a tussle with Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, and it's 19-19 in the opening game as the two trade points.

21:07 - Momota: "I need to stick to my game".

"I was really nervous on the court but I managed to move pretty well out there so I'm happy.

"I told myself to stay calm and changed the way I play in the second game but I played unafraid of making mistakes. My body feels really good so I want to do well in the next one.

"The next match will be a lot tougher so I want to be patient and play well. I think I tried to show off too much playing in front of a crowd for the first time in a while. I need to stick to my game.

"It feels great to have the support, especially this tournament being in Japan".

20:46 - HS Prannoy through

Over on Court 2, H.S. Prannoy has seen off Austria's Luka Wraber 21-12, 21-11. Up next on that court is his teammate, 12th seed Kidambi Srikanth, who faces Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.

20:37 - Momota Kento gets the job done

The two-time world champion defeated Mexico's Lino Munoz 21-16, 21-14 in his opening match.

19:20 - LZJ wants it

"So far I’m feeling quite good", said Lee who takes on Bernardo Atilano in the second round.

"I skipped the Commonwealth Games to really prepare for the world championships because we all know that Malaysia haven’t won this title.

"I want to be the first one to get this title. It feel great to be back in Tokyo again".

19:07 - Nishimoto always striving

"He’s tall so I was looking to lob and when clearing, to clear properly", Nishimoto said.

"I always feel like I can do better. I tell myself that every time I’m out there".

This was Nishimoto's second career win in eight meetings over Antonsen. The world No. 21 previously beat the Dane at the 2017 French Open.

18:55 - Classy Lee Zii Jia

Fifth-ranked Malaysian looked comfortable in dismissing Brice Leverdez 21-9, 21-13.

Lee underlined his championship credentials with a big fat marker on this night.

18:51 - Antonsen reacts to shock defeat

"Right now I’m obviously a little disappointed that I didn’t get the match into three sets. I felt the third set could be mine; I felt superior on the physical side.

"I just really tried to stay focused but obviously I did not succeed. Some poor mistakes and not very well executed shots and then suddenly I was behind 15-20. It’s always difficult to have to catch up.

"It feels really good to be back on the court even though there’s still a long ways to go. But I knew this going into the tournament. Hopefully it’s going up from here".

18:31 - Nishimoto Kenta does it!

And we have our first upset of these championships as the Japanese stuns world No. 3 Antonsen 21-15, 21-19.

17:50 - Perfect hosts

Nishimoto Kenta is currently taking on Anders Antonsen of Denmark - up in the first game - but so far today, Japan have won all six of their matches across the five categories.

17: 30 - Lakshya Sen cruises

The ninth seed and world No. 10 beats Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21-12, 21-11 with few issues.

"I don't know if I'll be playing the day after or tomorrow so I just recover well and hopefully get a good knock in the morning", Sen said.

15:01 - "Pressure is a privilege".

Axelsen on his first-round victory:

"I was really focused on bringing my best game and I’m really happy about how I managed to play today.

"There’s always pressure on me when I go to the court the last few years. I’m used to carrying pressure on my shoulders; it’s part of the game."

"Pressure is a privilege".

14:37 - Axelsen goes through

It's all Axelsen in the second game as the 2017 world champion wins it 21-12 to advance.

Liew received treatment twice this game on both legs.

14:14 - Axelsen wins first game

The Big Axe comes out ahead 21-16 over Malaysia's Liew Daren, who gave the Dane a game in all fairness.

For a minute there, Liew had the crowd thinking, "What if".

13:41 - Viktor Axelsen up next

With Japan's Naru Shinoya/Kyohei Yamashita knocking out William Villeger/Anne Tran of France, men's world No. 1 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen will soon take Court 1.

13:08 - Chou on hard-fought win

"I won the first set but l probably lost my focus.

"Maybe (take it) one by one. I try to get to the semi-final and try my best because I don’t know how many times I can play the world championship.

"My attitude, all here, to play".

12:37 - CTC is through

Men's fourth seed Chou Tien Chen is made to work by Sai Praneeth B. but prevails in the end 21-15, 15-21, 21-15.

12:13 - Lunch time

Almost a quarter-hour past noon here in Tokyo but crowd about one-fifth full. Not bad for a Monday morning turnout.

Longest match so far - Tsuneyama's win over Thammasin at 1 hour, 16 minutes.

11:57 - Summing up

In other results so far at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Han Yue defeated Qi Xuefei in the women's singles while men's singles 13th seed Matsuyama Kanta of Japan came from behind to edge Thailand's Sitthikom Thammasin.

Yeung Nga Ting/Yeung Pui Lam knocked out Kate Frost/Moya Ryan in the women's doubles and in their men's counterpart, Bjarne Geiss/Jan Colin Voelker swept past Torjus Flaatten/Vegard Rikheim.

In a notable mixed doubles result, the mother-son Israeli pair of Misha and Svetlana Zilberman moved on to the second round with a three-game win over Adham Hatem Elgamal/Doha Hany of Egypt.

10:47 - Ginting: "I played a bit nervous"

Ginting on eking out a three-set win over Coelho: "I played a bit nervous so my feeling of stroke play was not going well. The second, third set everything went well.

"The first set, I played a bit slow because I played a bit nervous. Hopefully I can play much better in the second round".

10:36 - Ginting squeezes through

He takes the third game 21-12, a closer affair than the Indonesian would have liked.

10:27 - Anthony Sinisuka Ginting battling

The world No. 6 from Indonesia has been pushed to a third game by Brazil's Ygor Coelho.

Ginting had to fight back to win the second after dropping the opener 21-13.

09:32 - First win

And Ponnappa and Sikki produce the first win of these championships, taking the second game 21-9.

They will next face the top seed in the women's doubles, Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fen.

09:24 - Good morning from Tokyo!

We are now 20 minutes into action at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

On the first court, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnapppa and Reddy N. Sikki have already taken the first game 21-7 vs Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq/Fatimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq.