Harpal Singh Bedi
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu over powered compatriot Ashmita Chaliha in straight games to move into the second round of the Australian Open Badminton at the State Sports Centre in Sydney, on Wednesday.
However, in the men’s singles, Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen retired just after the start of the match against compatriot Kiran George while HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth and Mithun Manjunath beat top-20 opponents for a place in the next round of the BWF Super 500 event.
World No. 17 Sindhu, who has been struggling for form this year, defeated world No. 47 Ashmita Chaliha 21-18, 21-13 to make the round of 16..The star shuttler will again face a compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap, on Thursday. 40th in the rankings, Aakarshi made it to the second round with a 21-15, 21-17 win over Malaysia’s world No. 34 Goh Jin Wei in the first round.
Lakshya Sen, pulled out midway during his contest against fellow Indian Kiran George due to injury concerns. Lakshya was trailing 0-5 in the opening game when he retired
World no 50 Mithun Manjunath upset former World Championship winner and fourth seed Loh Kean Yew (Singapore) 21-19,21-19. He will face Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in next round
India’s highest-ranked singles shuttler at world No. 9, Prannoy warded off a challenge from world No. 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu from Hong Kong to win 21-18, 16-21, 21-15. The Indian will face either Canada’s Brian Yang or Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen.
The world No. 19 Kidambi Srikanth beat world No. 14 Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-18, 21-7 in his opener. He will play Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei, ranked 37th, in the second round .
Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat, ranked 31, advanced to the second round after defeating world No. 113 Nathan Tang of Australia 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes and set up a clash against world No, 28 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in the next round.
In women singles Malvika Bansod and Tasnim Mir bowed after losing their opening matches. World 43 Malvika Bansod, lost to World no 20 Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei 20-22, 11-21 .while World No. 53 Tasnim Mir, meanwhile, suffered a 21-13, 21-7 loss against world No. 56 Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi of Indonesia.
India’s challenge in the mixed doubles ended after BS Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor-N Sikki Reddy lost their respective opening round matches.
BS Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa lost to the Japanese pair of Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito 13-21, 12-21 while Rohan Kapoor-N Sikki Reddy were beaten by Republic of Korea’s Seo Seungjae-Chae Yujung 14-21, 18-21. Results at the Australian Open will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris Games. The qualification window for badminton in the Paris 2024 Olympics started on May 1.