Lakshya, Sindhu win opening round matches
PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen progressed to the women’s and men’s singles second round, respectively, after comfortable victories while the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty notched a hard-fought win in their first match after the Paris Olympics at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament.
In-form Malvika Bansod, ranked 36th in the world, also registered an upset, defeating Denmark’s world No. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 20-22 23-21 21-16 to advance to the second round.
World No. 19 Sindhu, a two-time Olympics medallist, dispatched the higher-ranked Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17 21-19 in 50 minutes, notching up her 20th win in 21 meetings with the Thai shuttler.
The 29-year-old from Hyderabad will next face Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min, while Malvika will meet eighth-seeded Supanida Katethong.
Returning to action after a break following the Paris Olympics, defending champions Rankireddy and Shetty beat Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 12-21 21-19 21-18 in a gruelling opening-round match that lasted one hour and six minutes.
The Asian Games gold medallist Indian duo will meet the Danish pair of Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Soggard in the pre-quarterfinals.
The Indian pair didn’t play after a medal-less Olympics campaign as Rankireddy went through a prolonged recovery from an injury.
In the women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also sailed into the second round with a 21-15 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei’s Hu Ling Fang and Jheng Yu Chieh to almost seal their spot for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals.
The world No. 18 Indian pair, which is currently at eighth spot in the BWF World Tour rankings, will face second seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China next.
“It will be great if we qualify, we are just trying to give our best and enjoy every game, really looking forward to the World Tour Finals,” Gayatri said after the match.
The top eight pairs will make it to the event scheduled in Hangzhou, China, from December 11 to 15.
Lakshya avenged his Olympics bronze medal loss with a 21-14 13-21 21-13 win over seventh seed Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia.
