KALLANG: India’s star shuttler PV Sindu continues to disappoint as she exits from Singapore Open 2023 after losing to world champion and No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi in the first round on Tuesday.
However, Kidambi Srikanth has advanced to the second round while Malaysia Masters winner HS Prannoy lost in the men’s singles competition.
PV Sindhu faced defeat by 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 in 61 minutes in the women’s singles event in Kallang as per Olympics.com.
The Singapore Open’s defending champion, PV Sindhu, entered the match unseeded after suffering four first-round losses. The Indian badminton player entered the season as the No. 7 player in the world, but she eventually slid out of the top 10.
Akane Yamaguchi was behind PV Sindhu in the first set till the end as she won the first set. PV Sindhu had a 14-12 lead at one point in the second game. The match entered the decider, but Akane Yamaguchi seized control with a late surge.
In the first round of the men’s singles competition, world No. 23 Kidambi Srikanth defeated Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-15, 21-19.
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila of India defeated Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France 21-16, 21-15 in the opening round of the men’s doubles competition.
Since winning the Malaysia Masters last month, HS Prannoy lost the match 21-15, 21-19 in 56 minutes, playing against world No. 3 Kodai Naraoka of Japan.
HS Prannoy, ranked seventh, and Kodai Naraoka started the match on equal footing. The first game, however, swung in the way of the Japanese shuttler after scores were tied at 7-7.
The second game began in a similar fashion. Kodai Naraoka raced ahead after the scores were level at 4-4.
HS Prannoy cut Kodai Naraoka’s four-point lead and caught up at 16-16 but the higher-ranked Japanese kept his nerves and eked out a close win in the second game to close out the contest.
Former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal will open her campaign against Thailand’s seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon later in the day.
Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Lakshya Sen, who reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Open last week, will open his campaign against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen.
India’s world No. 4 men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will also be in action. (ANI)