File photo of PV Sindhu© X (formerly Twitter)
Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the second round of the women’s singles but it was all over for Kidambi Srikanth in the men’s event at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Odense on Tuesday.
While two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu struggled past world number 28 Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland, 21-14, 18-21, 21-10, in a 56-minute opening match, 38th-ranked Aakarshi rallied her way to stun the German world number 26, Li Yvonne. 10-21 22-20 21-12 in another match.
Sindhu, who reached the semi-finals of the Arctic Open last week, will face a tough opponent in seventh-seeded Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in the next round. The Indonesian has defeated her twice in the last three meetings this year, although Sindhu has an overall 8-2 head-to-head record.
Aakarshi also has her task cut out for her, as she will next face the left-handed Thai Supanida Katethong. The world number 19 Thai had defeated the Indian in their only encounter at the Singapore Open this year.
For 2021 World Cup silver medalist Srikanth, it turned out to be a disappointing day as his valiant fight ended with a 21-19, 10-21, 16-21 loss to China’s world number 22 Weng Hong Yang in the opening round of the men’s singles.
Recently crowned Asian Games gold medalists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty withdrew from the tournament and their opponents Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia advanced to the second round.
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