PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen win, Saina Nehwal retires

Paris, October 27

PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen sailed into the second round but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth on a mixed day for Indians at the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament here today.

In women’s singles, Sindhu beat Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21-15 21-18, while Saina, who had suffered a groin injury at Uber Cup final, retired after lagging 11-21 2-9 against Sayaka Takahashi of Japan.

Sen defeated Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 21-10 21-16 in men’s singles. Sourabh Verma also made a positive start, outwitting Brazil’s Ygor Coelho 22-20 21-19 in 43 minutes. However, it was curtains for Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy.

Srikanth played his heart out to match top seed Kento Momota and also held a two-point lead towards the end of the decider but ended up losing 18-21 22-20 21-19 in 79 minutes. Kashyap went down fighting 17-21 21-17 11-21 to Brice Leverdez of France, while Prannoy lost 11-21 14-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen.

The men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila beat Ireland’s Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds 21-13 21-7. In mixed doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Denmark’s Mathias Thyrri and Mai Surrow 21-19 21-15 in 37 minutes. In women’s doubles, Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan beat Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy 21-16 21-17. — PTI