SINGAPORE Sindhu struggles into 2nd round

Singapore, April 12: Olympic silver medallist P. V. Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from 2016 All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to make a positive start to her campaign at the Singapore Open on Wednesday.

Sindhu, who had clinched her maiden India Open Super Series title earlier this month, fought back from a game down to eke out a 10-21, 21-15, 22-20 win in the opening round of a women’s singles match that lasted an hour and two minutes played in Singapore.

The fifth seeded Indian will face Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani next.

Runners-up at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January, B. Sai Praneeth also dished out a gritty performance to prevail 17-21, 21-7, 21-19 over Denmark’s Emil Holst.

The Indian will clash with China’s Qiao Bin on Thursday.

New pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy also showed their prowess in a fighting 21-19, 21-19 win over Malaysian combo of Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen in women’s doubles competition.

However, it was curtains for Verma brothers — Sourabh and Sameer — as well as for Rituparna Das in singles events.

While National Champion Sourabh failed to match Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and lost 1521, 14-21 in just 39 minutes, Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold champion Sameer battled hard before going down in two tough games 26-28, 21-23 to Hong Kong’s Hu Yun.

Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Ya Ching ended Rituparna’s campaign, handing her a 1821, 13-21 defeat in 58 minutes.

Mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Maneesha K., however, lost 13-21, 21-16, 11-21 to Lu Ching Yao and Chiang Kai Hsin of Chinese Taipei, while men’s doubles combo of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 8-21, 16-21 defeat to Japanese combo of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda.

— PTI