Saina, Srikanth crash out

Odense (Denmark), October 16 

Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth suffered first-round losses in the Denmark Open here today.

Saina’s struggling form continued as she lost 15-21 21-23 to Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi in 37 minutes to crash out of the $775,000 tournament. The 29-year-old London Olympics bronze-medallist was the runner-up last year. World No. 8 Saina has been going through a tough phase, dealing with fitness issues, since claiming the Indonesia Masters in January. She had also made first-round exits at the China Open and Korea Open earlier this year. World No. 12 Takahashi had defeated Saina the last time they met, at the Thailand Open in August.

In the men’s singles first round, former champion Srikanth lost 14-21 18-21 to fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark in 43 minutes.

Srikanth, who had skipped the China Open and Korea Open due to a knee issue, had beaten Antonsen at the 2017 World Championships. But the Danish shuttler has come a long way since then, having reached the final of this year’s World Championships in Switzerland. Currently ranked fourth, Antonsen has won the Indonesia Masters, Barcelona Spain Masters, European Games and made it to the final at Indonesia Open Super 1000 this year.

Sameer wins

Sameer Verma, however, crossed the first hurdle in the men’s singles when he beat Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-11 21-11 in 29 minutes to advance to the second round.

The Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also made it to the second round with a 21-16 21-11 win over the German duo of Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler. The mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Ranki and Ashwini Ponnappa did not take the court and conceded a walkover to the second-seeded Chinese pair of Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping. — PTI