INDIA OPEN: Ashmita Chaliha runs over fifth seed

New Delhi, January 11

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Young Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha recorded the first upset of the India Open when she stunned fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya while top-seeded PV Sindhu sailed into the women’s singles second round of the tournament here today.

Unseeded Chaliha took just 31 minutes to get the better of world No. 28 Russian 24-22 21-16, while double Olympics medallist Sindhu cruised past compatriot Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli 21-5 21-16 in her opening round.

“I haven’t played a lot of matches in the last few years. So, I was nervous and that affected me midway in the opening game. But once I won the first game, I was more confident,” Chaliha said.

Reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew was stretched to three games as home favourite Kidambi Srikanth registered a convincing win in their respective men’s singles first round matches of the World Tour 500 tournament series event.

Loh defeated Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng 16-21 21-4 21-13 while Srikanth packed off former junior world No. 1 Siril Verma 21-17 21-10 to advance to the second round.

However, it was curtains for Chirag Sen as he lost 8-21 7-21 to Soong Joo Ven of Malaysia.

In the mixed doubles, K Sai Pratheek and Gayatri Gopichand defeated Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Castro 21-16 16-21 21-17. — PTI