Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu bowed out in the first round while Saina Nehwal progressed at the Thailand Open 2023 women’s singles badminton event at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok on Wednesday.
The two-time Olympic medallist, PV Sindhu lost 21-8,18-21, 21-18 to Canada’s Michelle Li in the round of 32 of the BWF Super 500 event.
This was PV Sindhu’s first loss in 10 matches against Michelle Li. It was also the former world champion shuttler’s fourth first-round exit this season.
Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal romped to a 21-13, 21-7 win over Canadian qualifier Wen Yu Zhang with ease. This was the London 2012 Olympics bronze medallist’s first match on tour since her first round exit at the Orleans Masters in April.
Saina Nehwal will face He Bing Jiao of the People’s Republic of China next in the pre-quarterfinals.
Among the other Indians in the women’s singles event, qualifier Ashmita Chaliha beat compatriot Malvika Bansod 21-17, 21-14 to set up a pre-quarterfinal match with 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin.
In the men’s singles event, qualifier Kiran George stunned China’s Shi Yu Qi, a former world championships silver medallist and the third seed, 21-18, 22-20 to progress to the next round. Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen also advanced to the round of 16 with a hard-fought 21-23, 21-15, 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei in a contest which lasted for more than one hour.
Former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, exited the tournament following a 21-8, 16-21, 21-14 defeat to China’s Weng Hong Yang. B Sai Praneeth and Priyanshu Rajawat were also knocked out in the first round.
B Sai Praneeth lost 21-14, 21-16 to France’s Christo Popov while Priyanshu Rajawat fell 21-19, 21-10 to Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia. Sameer Verma lost 21-15, 21-15 to Magnus Johannesen of Denmark.
In the men’s doubles event, Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who achieved a career-high rank of world No. 4 in the latest BWF world rankings, defeated Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard 21-13, 18-21, 21-17 to advance to the round of 16.
Meanwhile, the Indian pair of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam lost to the Republic Korea’s Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee 21-11, 21-6 to exit form the women’s doubles event.
