Swiss Open 2023 badminton: PV Sindhu advances, Lakshya Sen out

Indian badminton player PV Sindhu advanced to the second round in women’s doubles while Lakshya Sen crashed out of the men’s singles competition at the Swiss Open 2023 in Basel on Wednesday. 

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, the reigning champion, defeated Switzerland’s Jenjira Stadelmann 21-9, 21-16 in a 32-minute affair. 

PV Sindhu will play Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani next. 

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games 2022 men’s champion Lakshya Sen, the world No. 25 in the latest badminton rankings, made a first round exit after losing 21-18, 21-11 to Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee, ranked 19th.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the next round with a hard-fought 21-16, 15-21, 21-18 win over China's Weng Hong Yang and set up a second round clash against Cheuk Yiu Lee.

In another men’s singles match, fifth-seeded HS Prannoy overcame the challenge from China's Shi Yu Qi with a 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 win in a closely-fought tie which lasted for an hour. 

Earlier, Mithun Manjunath registered a 21-8, 21-17 win over Joran Kweekel of the Netherlands to advance to the men's singles pre-quarterfinals. He will face Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei next.

In the women’s singles, Malvika Bansod lost 21-14, 21-15 to Korea’s Kim Ga Eun while Aakarshi Kashyap was handed a 21-15, 21-17 defeat by Germany’s Yvonne Li.

Kiran George, however, lost his men’s singles tie to bow out.

In the women's doubles, the Indian pair of N Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil crashed out in the opening round, losing 12-21, 14-21 against Japan's Sayaka Hobara and Yui Suizu. Reddy also lost her mixed doubles match, partnering Rohan Kapoor.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India’s top pair in men’s doubles, defeated the Malaysian pair of Xin Yuan Boon and Tien Ci Wong 21-15, 21-18 to stay in the hunt for a medal.