Thailand Open badminton: India’s PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth in second round
Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, were eliminated after losing their opening-round singles matches.
Top Indian badminton players PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth progressed into the second round of the Thailand Open 2022 after hard-fought wins in their singles matches on Wednesday.
Saina Nehwal, meanwhile, was knocked out by higher-ranked Kim Ga Eun of South Korea in the first round.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, defeated Lauren Lam of USA 21-19, 19-21, 21-18 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. The first game saw an even contest between PV Sindhu, the world No. 7 in current badminton rankings, and Lauren Lam, ranked 55 places below the Indian.
The American shuttler led the former world champion Sindhu 11-9 at the first break but Sindhu, with six consecutive points, snatched back the momentum.
The Indian badminton ace was stunned in the second game as Lauren mounted a comeback to stretch the match to a decider.
PV Sindhu kept her nose ahead in the third game and eventually won the contest in 59 minutes.
This was PV Sindhu’s third win over Lauren Lam in as many matches. PV Sindhu, the sixth seed at the tournament, will take on the winner of the match between world No. 13 Sayaka Takahashi of Japan and world No. 46 Sim Yu Jin of South Korea next.
Earlier, London 2012 Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal, got off to a good start against South Korean world No. 19 Kim Ga Eun. However, Saina Nehwal, ranked 23rd, failed to keep up the pace and went down 21-11, 15-21, 17-21 to make an early exit.
Upcoming shuttler Malvika Bansod, meanwhile, came from behind against world No. 59 Marija Ulitina of Ukraine to win the contest 17-21, 21-15, 21-11.
The Indian badminton player, ranked 57th, will have her task cut out against world No. 22 Line Christophersen of Denmark in the second round. Line Christophersen upset world No. 3 An Se Young earlier in the day.
In men’s singles, world No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth won against European Games silver medallist Brice Leverdez after going down in the first game.
Kidambi Srikanth, who helped India win Thomas Cup last week, defeated the French shuttler 18-21, 21-10, 21-16. With this win, Kidambi Srikanth kept his unbeaten run against the Frenchman intact and now leads him 5-0 in the head-to-head record.
The world championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth will take on world No. 42 Nhat Nguyen of Ireland in the second round on Thursday.
However, it was the end of the road for worlds bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth and Ashmita ChaIiha and Aakarshi Kashyap, both members of India’s Uber Cup team, as they lost their respective singles matches.
B Sai Praneeth lost to Kantaphon Wangcharoen, also a world championship bronze medallist, 21-12, 21-13. B Sai Praneeth entered the contest leading the Thai shuttler 4-2 in head-to-head encounters. However, he could not match the intensity of the younger opponent and was beaten convincingly.
Ashmita Chaliha lost to world No. 8 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-10, 21-15 while Aakarshi Kashyap was handed a 21-13, 21-18 defeat by world No. 11 Michelle Li of Canada.
Later in the day, HS Prannoy also lost to Daren Liew in his opening round match. The Indian, ranked 23rd, lost to the world No. 34 Malaysian 21-17, 15-21, 21-15.
The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and top-ranked Indian men’s singles player Lakshya Sen had opted out of the Thailand meet.
Thailand Open 2022: Other Indian results on Day 2
Men’s singles: Sourabh Verma lost to France’s Toma Junior Popov 22-20, 21-12
Men’s doubles: Wei Keng Liang-Chang Wang beat Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala 23-21, 21-11
Women’s doubles: Ashwini Bhat-Shikha Gautam beat Kittipak Dubthuk-Prinda Pattanawaritthipan 21-12, 21-17
Mixed doubles: B Sumeeth Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Yuki Kaneko-Misaki Mastsutomo 21-17, 21-17
Raju Mohamed Rehan-Jamaludeen Anees Kowsar lost to Kyohei Yamashita-Naru Shinoya 21-12, 21-13
Ishan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto received a walkover from Mathew Fogarty and Isabel Zhong
Venkat Gaurav Prasad-Juhi Dewangan lost to Zachariah Josiahno Sumanti-Hediana Julimarbela 21-15, 21-11