Badminton
India Open: Sindhu cruises, Subhankar Dey stages biggest upset
![India Open: Sindhu cruises, Subhankar Dey stages biggest upset India Open: Sindhu cruises, Subhankar Dey stages biggest upset](https://thebridge.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/D1r7UILVAAE4Lim.jpg)
New Delhi: While PV Sindhu had an easy opener, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy were made to work hard to win their first-round matches at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2019, an HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, here on Wednesday. Sameer Verma, Sai Praneeth and Riya Mookerjee joined them in Round 2 on a day which saw 7 singles shuttlers and 6 doubles pairs (at the time of filing the report) keeping the tricolour flying high for India.
2017 champion Sindhu made a blazing start to her title challenge with a commanding 21-8, 21-13 win over World No. 71 Mugdha Agrey. The second seed did not have to exert herself much, building a 13-7 lead in the first game. With Sindhu’s powerful smashes doing the talking, the Rio Olympic silver medallist managed to wrap it up in just 23 minutes.
![](https://thebridge.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PV-Sindhu-in-action-at-the-Yonex-Sunrise-India-Open-2019.jpg)
In complete contrast to Sindhu’s match, 2015 winner Srikanth had to claw his way back from a 12-17 deficit in the third game against his 2018 Asian Games conqueror, Wong Wing Ki Vincent. Egged on by the crowd, the World No. 7 displayed his tremendous fighting spirit under pressure to notch up a 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 win in 56 minutes.
“It’s my first time here and I think there is a lot of drift. After losing the lead in the second game, I thought I should not make a single mistake,” said Srikanth, adding, “This is the 6th or 7th time I was playing Wong after the Asian Games. It is tough to play the same opponent many times, but I am happy.”
But Subhankar Dey produced the biggest upset of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open so far, knocking out fourth seed Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto. Unseeded Subhankar ranked 44th in the world, eked out a stunning 14-21 22-20 21-11 triumph over world number 9. "It was a very tough match. Last time I played him in New Zealand was really easy for him. I really played well," said the 25-year-old Subhankar to PTI. "I gained a lot of confidence after the Swiss Open. I played the quarterfinal there. I beat Jonatan Christie. Tommy is the fourth seed and top-10 player, so it is one of my top wins," he added.