Malaysia Open 2023: PV Sindhu loses to Carolina Marin in opening round

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu of India lost to Rio 2016 champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the first round of the Malaysia Open 2023 women’s singles badminton event at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

PV Sindhu, returning to the court for the first time after a five-month injury lay-off, lost to Carolina Marin 21-12, 10-21, 21-15 in an hour-long contest.

It was the first meeting between the Rio 2016 finalists since Marin beat Sindhu at the Swiss Open final in 2021. It was also PV Sindhu's first match since winning the gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in August.

Carolina Marin put PV Sindhu under pressure right from the start with a good mix of net play and smashes. The Indian badminton player, seventh in the BWF world rankings, went down in the first game easily but looked more fluent as the match progressed.

Playing against the drift in the second game, PV Sindhu raced to an 11-4 lead against the world No. 9 shuttler at the break. Sindhu built on her lead post-interval and took the game into the decider.

While Marin resorted to body smashes, PV Sindhu targeted Marin’s backhand in an intriguing final game. Marin’s use of angles, however, proved decisive as she headed into the break with an 11-7 lead and then clinched the match after the change of ends to improve her head-to-head record to 10-6 against Sindhu.

Sindhu’s loss also meant the end of India’s campaign in women’s singles at the season’s first BWF World Tour 2023 event.

Earlier, world No. 28 Malvika Bansod lost to world No. 4 An Se Young of South Korea 21-9, 21-13 in just 31 minutes.

In men’s singles, India's top-ranked player HS Prannoy scripted a comeback to defeat compatriot and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen in three games.

HS Prannoy lost the first game and was trailing 7-2 in the decider. However, the world No. 8 Prannoy registered a 22-24, 21-12, 21-18 win over world No. 10 Sen in one hour and 15 minutes.

In men’s doubles, the world championships bronze medallists Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, world No. 5, made light work of world No. 9 South Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho to win 21-16, 21-13.

London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth suffered first-round exits on Tuesday. Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medallists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly progressed in the women’s doubles and will take on Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria in the next round.

The Malaysia Open 2023 badminton tournament will conclude on January 15.