Arctic Open 2024 badminton: PV Sindhu ousted in opening round; Malvika Bansod advances

PV Sindhu’s first competitive outing post the Paris Olympics ended on a disappointing note as the Indian badminton player lost to Canada’s Michelle Li in the first round of the Arctic Open 2024 BWF Super 500 badminton tournament at Vantaa, Finland, on Tuesday.

World No. 16 Sindhu struggled from the start and ended up losing to Li, 32nd in the latest women’s singles badminton rankings, by a 21-16, 21-10 scoreline in just 37 minutes. A substantial number of unforced errors didn’t help Sindhu’s cause.

This was also Sindhu’s first match under her new coaches - India’s Anoop Sridhar and the Republic of Korea’s Lee Soon Il. The two-time Olympic medal winner had parted ways with her Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso after suffering a round of 16 exit from Paris 2024.

Li, who only picked up her fourth win over Sindhu in 14 meetings, will face another Indian shuttler, Unnati Hooda, who defeated Brazil’s Juliana Viana Vieira 21-16, 23-25, 21-17 later in the day.

Aakarshi Kashyap, meanwhile, progressed to the round of 16 after defeating Germany’s Yvonne Li 21-19, 21-14 in a 45-minute-long encounter.

Malvika Bansod will also be joining Kashyap in the next round after she upset world No. 23 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 24-22. The Indian player, who recently made the quarter-finals of the China Masters Super 1000, is ranked 37th in the world.

Among the other Indian badminton players in action at Finland on the day, Kiran George defeated French shuttler Lucas Calarebout 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 in his qualifying round clash to advance to the men’s singles main draw.

George was earlier set to play senior compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in his qualifying game but was redrawn against the Frenchman after the former world No. 1 Indian player withdrew from the Finland meet.

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran’s campaign in men’s singles concluded in the qualifiers following a 21-6, 21-13 loss to Arnaud Merkle of France. Karunakaran and his partner Aadya Variyath, however, progressed in mixed doubles with a victory over Estonian pair Mikk Ounmaa and Ramona Uprus.

India’s Lakshya Sen will return to the court for the first time since making the semi-finals at Paris 2024 on Wednesday. He will face Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the first round of men’s singles.