Singapore Open: Sindhu, Prannoy crash out in opener

Ace Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy crashed out of the Singapore Open 2023 badminton tournament after suffering losses in their respective first round matches while Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round, here on Tuesday.

Coming into the tournament as the defending champion, Sindhu lost 21-18, 19-21,17-21 to the reigning world champion and No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women’s singles opening round BWF Super 750 event.

This was Sindhu’s tenth loss against Yamaguchi but she still leads the head-to-head tally against the Japanese 14-10.

On the other hand, Malaysia Masters winner Prannoy failed to break his losing streak against world No. 3 Kodai Naraoka of Japan as he suffered a 21-15, 21-19 loss in the men’s singles first round.

This was Prannoy’s fourth loss against the Japanese shuttler in as many matches.

Meanwhile, veteran Srikanth and the men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila advanced to the second round.

World No. 23 Srikanth defeated world No. 29 Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-15, 21-19 while the men’s doubles pair of Arjun and Dhruv went past the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-16, 21-15 in their first round.

Saina Nehwal and Lakshya Sen will be in action later in the day. Saina will be up against seventh-seed Thai shuttler Ratchanok Intanon and Sen will begin his campaign against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen.

World No. 4 men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist women’s doubles pair Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will open their campaign on Wednesday.

-IANS

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