Veteran shuttler PV Sindhu began her Singapore Open Super 750 campaign with a dominant win as she beat Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang on May 27, Tuesday. The match lasted 31 minutes and the Indian emerged victorious registering an emphatic scoreline of 21-14, 21-9.
The win comes as a relief for the two-time Olympic medalist following her first round exit from the Malaysian Masters last week. Sindhu though has little time to rejoice this win as she is due to face China’s Chen Yu Fei, next. Yu Fei is current World No.5. The 27-year-old also boasts of an Olympic gold which she won at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Sindhu’s victory was the only silver lining for India on the opening day of the tournament.
Other notable shuttlers of the Indian contingent, Malvika Bansod and Anmol Kharb, in women’s singles, and Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George, in men’s singles, saw their challenge end early following first round defeats.
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Among these defeats, Malvika and Priyanshu’s losses will rankle Indian badminton fans the most. The two 23-year-old started strong and rushed to a one-game lead in their respective matches. Malvika won her opening game against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong 21-14. But she couldn’t keep up the good work and lost the next two games 18-21 11-21 to crash out of the tournament. Priyanshu too won the opening game of his match against South Korea’s Kodai Naraoka 21-14. The India let the lead slip from his grip as seventh-seed Naraoka won the next two games 21-10 21-14 to progress into the the round of 16.
Anmol and Kiran meanwhile were outclassed by two Chinese players. Anmol, 18, lost to Chen Yufei 11-21 22-24, and, Kiran, 25, lost his match to Weng Hongyang 19-21 17-21.
The day also saw the mixed double’s pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crast also bow out. The Indian duo were beaten 18-21 13-21 by China’s Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi.
Despite the setbacks there is still hope left for India as the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be kick-starting their Singapore Open Super 750 campaign tomorrow. The Indian pair are due to face Malaysia’s Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal in their opening round of the match.
Prakhar Sachdeo
The Sportz Planet Desk
