Kuala Lumpur: Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu faltered on her return to action after a long injury lay-off but in-form HS Prannoy continued his sensational run to progress to the second round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
Sixth seed Sindhu, who was playing her first match since she sustained a stress fracture on her left ankle en route her Commonwealth Games gold in August, lost 12-21, 10-21, 15-21 to Rio Olympics champion Carolina Marin of Spain in 59 minutes.
Earlier, world No. 8 Prannoy lived up to his new status of being India’s best-ranked men’s singles player with a come-from-behind 22-24, 21-12, 21-18 victory over Lakshya Sen, ranked 10th, in an edgy opening-round contest that went for little over an hour.
The 30-year-old from Kerala will next face Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-16, 21-13 win over the Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho.
The world No. 5 pair will meet the Indonesian combination of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana.
Malvika Bansod, however, failed to cross the opening hurdle, losing 9-21, 13-21 to second seed Korean An Se Young.
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