Saina, Sindhu win; Lakshya ousted

MANILA: Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal fought off strong challenges from their opponents before winning their respective opening matches, but it was curtains for Lakshya Sen and B Sai Praneeth in Badminton Asia Championships here on Wednesday.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu was made to toil by Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po as the fourth seeded Indian came back from a game down to win 18-21, 27-25, 21-9 in a marathon women’s singles opening round match, which lasted one hour and 17 minutes. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from nagging injuries, eked out a 21-15, 17-21, 21-13 win over Sim Yu-jin of South Korea.

Sindhu will next play Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi, while Saina will be up against China’s Zhi Yi Wang. The other remaining Indian in women’s singles, Malvika Bansod, too squandered a game lead before going down 9-21, 21-17, 26-24 against Yeo Jia Min of Singapore in another hard-fought tie.

Aakarshi Kashyap lost 15-21, 9-21 to Akane Yamaguchi.

It was a disappointing outing for world championships bronze medallist Sen, who was stunned by unseeded Chinese Li Shi Feng. The fifth seed lost 21-12, 10-21, 19-21 in an opening round men’s singles tie that lasted 56 minutes. World No 19 Sai Praneeth suffered a straight game defeat (17-21, 13-21) against Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.

Seventh seeded Kidambi Srikanth, however, kept the Indian flag flying in men’s singles by progressing to the second round with a straight games win over Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia. Srikanth won 22-20, 21-15 to set up a clash against Chinese qualifier Weng Hong Yang.

Women’s pairs Ashwini Bhat K and Shikga Gautam, and Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker also lost in the first round, both in straight games.