New Delhi, Aug. 20 -- The Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium was a roaring cauldron of emotion here on Thursday as the BWF World Championships delivered a rollercoaster of breathtaking badminton.

It was a day where thundering cheers from a passionate home crowd met the cruel, razor-thin margins of elite sport. At the centre of it was India's PV Sindhu, whose quest for a historic sixth World Championships medal ended in an agonisingly close 88-minute marathon.

With Ayush Shetty also losing, India's singles campaign drew to a painful close but a wave of hope emerged from the doubles courts as ace pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and the women's combine of Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand kept the hosts' podium aspirations alive by reach...