In the first round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event in Bali on Wednesday, India’s double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu showed remarkable tenacity to outwit her opponent, while B Sai Praneeth and Kidmabi Srikanth proceeded to the men’s singles second round.
Sindhu, the reigning global champion, rallied from a poor start to clinch a hard-fought 17-21 21-17 21-17 victory over a tough Aya Ohori of Japan in one hour and ten minutes. Sindhu increased her 11-0 record against the Japanese shuttler with this victory.
Sindhu, the world number seven, will face 23-year-old German shuttler Yvonne Li in the second round after losing in straight games to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals last week.
It would be the third seed Indian’s first clash with world number 26 Li. In the men’s singles, world number 16 B Sai Praneeth defeated France’s Toma Junior Popov 21-19 21-18. Srikanth defeated compatriot HS Prannoy in a rematch of the Indonesia Masters quarterfinal from last week.
Former world number one Srikanth continued his good form with a 21-15 19-21 21-12 victory over Prannoy in 56 minutes. He is coming off back-to-back semifinal appearances at the Hylo Open and Indonesia Masters.
In the second round, Praneeth will face France’s Christo Popov, while Srikanth will face the winner of the first round match between Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Dane Victor Axelsen and Japan’s Koki Watanbe.
The mixed doubles team of N Sikki Reddy and Dhruv Kapila, on the other hand, were eliminated in the first round, losing 7-21 12-21 to Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya of Japan.
Reddy had a rough day at the workplace, as she also lost in the first round of the women’s doubles event.
The fifth ranked Bulgarian team of Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva defeated Reddy and veteran shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa 27-29 18-21.
