PV Sindhu and the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy opened their Malaysia Open Super 1000 campaign with commanding victories, giving India a strong start to the season.
Sindhu, returning after a long injury lay-off, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun 21-14, 22-20 in a 51-minute contest. She controlled the first game with ease and then fought back from 4-11 in the second to level at 13-all. Moreover, Sung pushed hard and led 17-14, but Sindhu showed resilience to equalise at 17-all. At 20-all, she sealed the last two points to secure her place in the round of 16. Sindhu now faces Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki, a former world junior champion. Furthermore, Sindhu holds a 1-1 record against Miyazaki, having beaten her in the 2025 China Masters.
Satwik and Chirag, former World No.1s and Asian Games champions, dominated Yang Po-Hsuan and Lee Jhe-Hue of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 21-15 in just 35 minutes. They extended their winning record to 7-0 against the pair and advanced to face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in the next round.
Meanwhile, India’s mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto exited after a 56-minute battle against Americans Presley Smith and Jennie Gai, losing 15-21, 21-18, 15-21. In addition, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out after a close three-game fight against Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. The Panda sisters, Rutuparna and Swetaparna, also suffered a straight-game defeat to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.
Sindhu’s resilience and Satwik-Chirag’s dominance highlighted India’s bright start at the Malaysia Open, even as other pairs faced early exits.
