PV Sindhu makes winning return

Odense (Denmark), October 19

Advertisement

Returning to action after a break, two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu saw off Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit in straight games to enter the second round of the Denmark Open here today. In the men’s section, her compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma too moved into the second round.

Sindhu, the reigning world champion, took 30 minutes to get past Yigit, ranked 29th, 21-12 21-10 in her women’s singles opener of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament. The fourth seeded Indian, who had skipped the Sudirman and Uber Cup Final after the Tokyo Olympics, will next face Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

Former champion Srikanth and Verma also made winning starts to their campaigns at the $850,000 event. Srikanth, winner here in 2017, outsmarted compatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-14 21-11 in 30 minutes. Verma, ranked 28th, prevailed over Thailand’s world No. 21 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-17 21-14 in a 42-minute clash. World No. 14 Srikanth will meet world No. 1 and top seed Kento Momota of Japan in the second round, while Verma is likely to face Denmark’s third seed Anders Antonsen in the next round.

India’s men’s doubles teams had a mixed day

in office. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated the English pair of Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood 23-21 21-15 in their opener, while MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila stunned England’s world No. 17 pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-19 21-15 to make a positive start.

But Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21 11-21 to Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in the opening round to bow out of the competition. — PTI