P. V. Sindhu suffered a shock exit while Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the round of 16 on a mixed day for India at the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament at the IG Stadium in New Delhi.
Sindhu, who reached the semifinals of the Malaysia Super 1000 last week, started strongly by clinching the opening game 22-20 against Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen. However, she failed to maintain momentum and eventually lost 22-20, 12-21, 15-21 in a 68-minute battle.
Earlier, former world No.1 Srikanth fought hard to overcome fellow Indian Tharun Mannepalli. After dropping the first game 15-21, he bounced back with a dominant 21-6 win and sealed the decider 21-19 to secure his place in the second round.
Malvika Bansod, returning from injury, impressed with her patience and defensive play to beat Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po 21-18, 21-19. In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand cruised past Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-15, 21-11. The pair, buoyed by their Syed Modi International title defence last November, will next face seventh seeds Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min of China.
India’s mixed doubles campaign faltered as three home pairs exited in the first round. Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 15-21, 14-21 to Thailand’s Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde went down 19-21, 14-21 to Germany’s Marvin Seidel and Thuc Phuong Nguyen. Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh also bowed out after a 15-21, 7-21 defeat to Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara.
