IMAGE: World No. 12 Lakshya Sen beat No. 9 H S Prannoy to avenge his first round reverse at the Malaysia Open in the India Open badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters
Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu was knocked out of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament after a first-round defeat to Thailand’s Supanida Katethong, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
The world No. 7 Indian ace, a former champion in the tournament, was beaten 12-21, 20-22 by the world No. 30 Thai in a women’s singles match. She lost to the same player in the semi-finals in the last edition too.
Sindhu struggled against the left-handed Supanida, who was precise in her returns and more in control of the rallies as she look the opening game.
The former World champion fought hard in the second and moved from 12-17 to grab a game-point at 19-20.
She thought she clinched it and left the court after her opponent’s return was called out, but a video referral showed that the shuttle actually kissed the line, handing Katethong a chance to close the match.
Katethong seized the opportunity and sealed victory after Sindhu went wide.
Earlier, Defending champion Lakshya Sen looked in fine fettle as he registered a straight-game win over compatriot H S Prannoy to make a winning start to his title defence at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
The world No. 12, seeded seventh, was by far the better player on display as he settled scores against world No. 9 Prannoy after his opening round reverse at the Malaysia Open with a 21-14, 21-15 victory at the KD Jadhav Indoor hall in the IG Stadium.
Reigning champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also produced a clinical display to storm into the second round after beating Scotland’s Christopher Grimley and Matthew Grimley 21-13, 21-15 in their men’s doubles opener.
Commonwealth Games champion Sen will next take on Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, who knocked out two-time World champion Kento Momota of Japan 21-15, 21-11 earlier in the day.
Sen looked more attacking and remained steady in the rallies, producing some good winners to stay ahead at 15-9 after a confident start. He brought down the shuttle with a thud every time it was in his range, while Prannoy was erratic.
Soon the 21-year-old moved to nine game points, wasting three of them before Prannoy went to the net again.
The second game looked more competitive at the start but Sen broke off at 9-9 and never looked back.
“I could settle from the beginning, get my length and defence properly. In the Malaysia Open I wasn’t able to control the shuttle. Today, my smashes and half smashes were working,” Sen said after the match.
Olympian Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in to train Sen in the pre-Olympic year, said it is important for his ward to stick to his natural game and make a good start.
“He was a lot more confident today. We had some good sessions last week. That’s helped him. He was aggressive, attacking and taking his chances, that made the difference,” Lakshya’s new coach Sridhar said.
“He has corrected the mistakes that he did last week and Lakshya is an attacking player; that’s his natural style. If he starts defensive then that is something which doesn’t work. He needs an attacking start.
“This year, the focus will be to stay physically fit more than anything else.”
Satwik and Chirag, who had a semi-final finish last week in Kuala Lumpur, will be up against either China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi or England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy.
“We would want to win 3-4 more events and reach world No. 3 this year. We want to win a major event like the All-England Championships and better the medal at the World Championships,” Chirag said.
“Our main aim is to play as deep in the tournament as possible. Last week, it was a semi-final finish but now our goal has changed and, when we enter the tournament, anything less than a title gives us a bittersweet taste.”
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also notched up a 22-20, 17-21, 21-18 win over France’s world No. 29 Margot Lambert and Anne Tran in the opener. It was their first win against their opponents in the last three meetings.
Among other Indians, N Sikki Reddy and her new women’s doubles partner Shruti Mishra went down fighting 17-21, 19-21 to Germany’s Linda Efler and Isabel Lohau.
Earlier, former top-10 player Shi Yuqi of China staved off the challenge from Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 20-22, 21-16, 21-15, and Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei beat Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 21-18, 21-17.
Fifth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei also prevailed 22-20, 14-21, 21-11 over Lee Cheuk Yiu, while Zhao Jun Peng beat Weng Hong Yang 21-19, 21-12.
In the women’s singles, three-time former winner Ratchanok Intanon recovered from a back injury to get the better off Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei 21-13, 21-11 and Rio Olympics champion Carolina Marin beat 2017 World champion Nozomi Okuhara 21-13, 21-18.
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