P.V. Sindhu in action. File
| Photo Credit: AP
Star shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy progressed to the second round but Lakshya Sen went down fighting to World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the Singapore Open Super 750 Badminton Tournament here on Wednesday.
Sindhu had last won a BWF title at Singapore two years back and she entered the tournament after signing off with a runner-up finish at Thailand Open last week.
Up against World no. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark, the Indian registered a 21-12, 22-20 win in a 44-minute opening round encounter to set up a mouth-watering battle against familiar foe Carolina Marin of Spain.
World No. 10 Prannoy quelled a spirited challenge from Julien Carraggi, ranked 45, of Belgium 21-9, 18-21, 21-9 to set up a meeting with Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto.
World No. 14 Lakshya, who will be making his Olympic debut at the Paris Games, fought hard but went out of steam after the change of ends in the decider to go down 13-21, 21-16, 13-21 in 62 minutes against Axelsen.
K. Srikanth’s opening round match ended in agony as he retired due to a knee injury after lagging 14-21, 3-11 against Japan’s fifth seed Kodai Naraoka.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand notched up a 21-7, 21-14 win over Cheng Yu-Pei and Sun Yu Hsing of Chinese Taipei to make a good start in women’s doubles.
The results (first round): Men: Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt K. Srikanth 21-14, 11-3, retd.; Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Lakshya Sen 21-13, 16-21, 21-13; H.S. Prannoy bt Julien Carraggi (Bel) 21-9, 18-21, 21-9.
Doubles: Liang Wei Keng & Wang Chang (Chn) bt Krishna Prasad Garage and K. Sai Pratheek 21-16, 24-22.
Women: P.V. Sindhu bt Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt (Den) 21-12, 22-20.
Doubles: Polina Buhrova & Yevheniia Kantemyr (Ukr) bt Tanisha Crasto & Ashwini Ponnappa 18-21, 21-19, 21-19; Treesa Jolly & Gayatri Gopichand bt Cheng Yu-Pei & Sun Yu Hsing of Chinese Taipei (Tpe) 21-7, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat & d Lai Shevon Jemie (Mas) bt B. Sumeeth Reddy & N. Sikki Reddy 21-18, 21-19; Mads Vestergaard & Christine Busch (Den) bt Venkat Gaurav Prasad & Juhi Dewangan 21-8, 21-8.
