China Masters 2024 badminton: PV Sindhu vs Malvika Bansod in second round, SatChi make triumphant return

This was Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s first appearance since the Paris 2024 Olympics. Lakshya Sen also won his opening match vs Lee Zii Jia.

2 minBy Utathya Nag
PV Sindhu
(Getty Images)

India’s PV Sindhu marched into the second round of the women’s singles event while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty marked a triumphant return to the court at the China Masters 2024 badminton tournament on Wednesday.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, 19th in the world badminton rankings, comfortably outplayed Thailand’s world No. 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17, 21-19.

Satwik-Chirag, playing their first competitive match since the Paris 2024 Olympics, fought back to beat Chinese Taipei pair Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 12-21, 21-19, 21-18.

Sindhu overcame four-point deficits in both her games to improve her head-to-head record against Ongbamrungphan to 20-1 and will face compatriot Malvika Bansod in the next round of the BWF Super 750 tournament.

World No. 36 Malvika Bansod beat Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt, who is ranked 15 places better off than her, 20-22, 23-21, 21-16 in her opening-round encounter.

SatChi, returning to the court for the first time since Paris 2024, took time to settle in.

The world No. 9 Indian pair looked rusty in the opening game and was completely outplayed by Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan, the 10th-ranked team in the world.

However, the reigning Asian Games champions hit back in the next two games. SatChi were trailing 8-11 in the decider at one stage but turned things around,

Lakshya Sen, too, had to dig deep to beat Malaysian world No. 7 and seventh seed Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 13-21, 21-13 to move into the next round of men’s singles.

The Indian badminton player, currently ranked 17th in the world, had lost to Jia in the Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medal match when the two last met. Sen will play Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke next.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also secured their place in the women’s doubles second round with a 21-15, 21-14 win over Hu Ling Fang and Jheng Yu Chieh of Chinese Taipei.

More from