Indonesia Masters badminton 2022: Aakarshi Kashyap through to the main round
Top Indian women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy, meanwhile, lost their first-round match to bow out.
Indian badminton player Aakarshi Kashyap progressed to the main draw of the Indonesia Masters 2022 with a convincing win over Sirada Roongpiboonsopit at Istora Stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Aakarshi Kashyap, 57th in the badminton world rankings, beat world No. 230 Sirada Roongpiboonsopit of Thailand 13-21, 21-9, 21-9 in 46 minutes in the women’s singles qualifying round.
She will join double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is the only other Indian women’s singles player at the BWF Super 500 tournament, in the main round which begins on Wednesday.
Aakarshi Kashyap, a member of India’s Uber Cup team, will face world No. 16 and former Pan American champion Beiwen Zhang of the USA in the round of 32, next.
In the mixed doubles category, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa also made the main draw with a 17-21, 21-18, 21-14 win over Japan’s Yujiro Nishikawa and Saori Ozaki. The pair will face Indonesia’s Hafiz Faizal and Serena Kani in the main round.
However, it was the end of the road for Ashwini Ponnappa in the women’s doubles after she and partner N Sikki Reddy lost against Indonesian pair Meilysa Trias Puspita Sari and Rachel Allessya Rose 21-18, 21-9 in the first round of the main draw.
On Wednesday, top Indian players including worlds bronze medallist Lakshya Sen and former world champion PV Sindhu will be in action in their respective singles openers.
London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy and former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap pulled out before the start of the tournament. Kidambi Srikanth withdrew earlier.
Other Indian results on Day 1 of Indonesia Masters 2022
Men’s singles qualifiers: Kartikey Gulshan Kumar lost to Soong Joo Ven 21-16, 9-21, 21-14; Shubhankar Dey lost to Andi Fadel Muhammad 20-22, 21-10, 21-13
Women's doubles first round: Simran Singhi-Ritika Thaker lost to Lee So Hee-Shin Seung Chan 21-10, 21-11.
Men's doubles first round: B Sumeeth Reddy-Manu Attri lost to Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan 21-19, 11-21, 8-21.