JAKARTA: The Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made a winning start in the men’s doubles category of the ongoing Indonesia Open 2023 as the duo reached the Round of 16.
The Indian pair was leading 21-12, 11-7 when their French opponents Christo and Toma Junior Popov, had to retire from the first-round crash. Christo retired due to a knee injury.
On the other hand, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila crashed out after a 21-12, 6-21, 20-22 defeat to Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, the world No. 7 pair and former world championship medallists.
Meanwhile, Indian women’s pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a defeat in their opening match of the ongoing Indonesia Open 2023 in the women’s doubles on Tuesday.
The Indian pair lost 22-20, 12-21, 16-21 to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in their opening match. This was Jolly and Gopichand’s fourth straight first-round loss in BWF World Tour tournaments this season.
Earlier in the day, Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy have advanced to the round of 16 stage of the Indonesia Open 2023 badminton in women’s and men’s singles events respectively.
Olympic medallist, Sindhu defeated local player Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in a straight game 21-19, 21-15 to end her two-match losing streak against the Indonesian.
Sindhu’s win is remarkable as Tunjung had knocked her out in the Malaysia Masters in the semi-finals. Earlier, the Indonesian shuttler had beaten her in the Madrid Spain Masters title with a victory in the final.
In the opening game, PV Sindhu and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung played toe-to-toe with the lead changing hands multiple times. With the game deadlocked at 14, the Indian stepped up her game and won five straight points to grab the lead despite several tight rallies.
The second game was more straightforward as PV Sindhu dominated Tunjung and sealed the match with ease.
PV Sindhu, a former world champion, will face world No. 3 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who is also the defending Indonesia Open champion, in round two.
In the men’s singles category, HS Prannoy, ranked eighth in the world, won 21-16, 21-14 over Japan’s world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto in the opening round of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event to enter the pre-quarterfinal.HS Prannoy will next play world No. 16 Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong, who defeated two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in round 1. (ANI)