PV Sindhu and the celebrated doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had to toil to advance to the second round of the USD 950,000 India Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Tuesday, as home shuttlers experienced a mixed day. After missing the season-opening Malaysia Open Super 1000 due to her wedding in December, Sindhu looked a bit rusty but managed to battle through a 21-14, 22-20 victory over world No. 24 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei.
“After a long break, it’s always difficult to find the rhythm, but I am happy to have won the match in straight games. My shuttle was going midcourt in the second game, but I was always confident I could pull things off,” said Sindhu.
The world No. 16 Indian will now face Japan’s Manami Suizu in the second round.
In men’s doubles, title contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded seventh, overcame a few nervous moments to defeat Malaysia’s world No. 7 duo, Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee, 23-21, 19-21, 21-16.
After winning a narrow opening game, the Indian pair slipped in the second, allowing the Malaysians to force a decider. Satwik and Chirag took an 11-9 lead in the third game, but the Malaysian pair kept things tight until 18-16, before the Indians sealed the match following two net errors from their opponents.
“They have always been a formidable team. They defended quite well, and it was very difficult to penetrate. Their service retrieving was also good. They have improved immensely, but we are happy we could come back in the third,” said Chirag.
Talented shuttler Kiran George, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), fought through a thrilling three-game encounter, saving three match points and then securing the win against Japan’s world No. 25 Yushi Tanaka. Kiran won 21-19, 14-21, 27-25.
In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila advanced to the second round with a 8-21, 21-19, 21-17 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chen Cheng Kuan and Hsu Yin-Hui. Former national champions Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam also progressed, defeating Crystal Lai and Jackie Dent 22-20, 21-18 in women’s doubles.
However, there was disappointment for the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, seeded fifth, as they suffered a 21-23, 19-21 loss to Japan’s Arisa Igarashi and Ayako Sakuramoto, despite recent success at the Syed Modi International Super 300.
Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh also fell short, going down 21-19, 15-21, 12-21 to Thailand’s O Jongsathapornparn and S Suwachai.
In mixed doubles, S Karunakaran and A Variyath lost 12-21, 10-21 to the French pair of T Gicquel and D Delrue. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde also fought hard but were defeated 21-17, 18-21, 15-21 by Hee Yong Kai Terry and Jin Yu Jia.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who was granted a last-minute entry, withdrew from the tournament, handing a walkover to his first-round opponent Weng Hong Yang of China.
Earlier in the day, Sindhu made a strong start, taking an 11-6 lead at the break and comfortably clinching the opening game. However, the second game saw Sung gain control, establishing an 11-4 lead at the interval. Sindhu mounted a comeback, levelling the score at 13-13 with a four-point burst.
Despite trailing 14-17, Sindhu rallied again, levelling at 17-17, 19-19, and 20-20, before converting a match point to seal the win.
In men’s singles, Kiran George, who was a last-minute entry, opened up a significant lead at the break in the third game. However, a series of errors allowed Tanaka to fight his way back into the match. Despite missing three match points at 20-18, the Indian kept his nerves and saved three match points before finding the winning point.
Kiran will next face the winner of the match between fourth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Alex Lanier of France.
“Even last year, I lost 4-5 matches from a winning position, so I have been working on such situations in practice. Even today, things got difficult, but I managed to keep my composure and pull through,” he said.
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