Badminton
Indonesia Open: PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy move to pre-quarters
PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy along with Satwik Rankinreddy/Chirag Shetty moved to the pre-quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open 2023.
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu will be in action at the Singapore Open 2024 round of 16 (File Photo)
Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu roared back to form, ousting home favorite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight games while world number 8 HS Prannoy defeated Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the opening round of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event on Tuesday.
The double Olympic medallist and former world champion, who made first-round exits from the last two events, took 38 minutes to prevail over her recent nemesis from Indonesia 21-19 21-15 and seal a pre-quarterfinal berth.
This was also Sindhu's first win against Tunjung in her last three games as she had lost to the Indonesian in the Madrid Masters final and Malaysian Masters semifinal earlier this year.
Sindhu, who has slipped to world No. 13 in rankings, overcame a stiff challenge in the first game when the local challenger led 9-7 with a crosscourt drop.
Using her height to full advantage, Sindhu snatched the lead 11-10 following three consecutive errors by Tunjung and sealed the first game.
After an edgy start, Sindhu was in full flow in the second game, forcing Tunjung to commit a lot of errors as the Indian finally managed to end her string of losses and extended her overall head-to-head record to 8-2.
Sindhu now faces an even tougher battle as she is next up against third seed Tai Tzu Ying. The Taiwanese star is on an eight-match winning streak against the Indian and overall leads 18-5 on head-to-head.
It was a winning start for the in-form shuttler HS Prannoy too as he prevailed over Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-16 21-14 in 50 minutes.
The seventh-seeded Indian, who claimed the Malaysia Masters Super 300 title last month, next faces NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in the round of 16.
CWG Birmingham 2022 champion and world No 5 men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty also move to the round of 16 after the French duo of Toma Junior Popov and Christo Popov retired mid-way through the second game with a scoreline of 21-12, 11-7.
Christo Popov had injured himself earlier in his singles tie and failed to continue in the second game against Satwik/Chirag.
Indian women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crashed out in the opening round, going down to Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan.
The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist duo squandered their lead in the opening game to go down 22-20 12-21 16-21 in a one-hour 12 minutes fight.
