BWF Swiss Open 2023: Defending champion Sindhu reaches second round, Lakshya knocked out
Swiss Open: P V Sindhu began her title defence with an easy win over local wildcard Jenjira Stadelmann while Lakshya Sen suffered a first-round defeat on Wednesday.
Published : Mar 22, 2023 19:53 IST - 2 MINS READ
FILE PHOTO: India’s P V Sindhu began her title defence at the Swiss Open in Basel with an easy first-round win on Wednesday.
While P V Sindhu began her title defence with an easy win over local wildcard Jenjira Stadelmann, Lakshya Sen suffered straight-games defeat in the first round of the Swiss Open, a BWF World Tour Super 300 event, in Basel on Wednesday.
Two-time Olympic medallist and Commonwealth Games champion Sindhu defeated Stadelmann 21-9, 21-16 in just 32 minutes. Fourth-seeded Sindhu, who has reached the second round of an individual event for the first time this season, next takes on Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani.
Kidambi Srikanth, H S Prannoy, Mithun Manjunath and the men’s double pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty also reached the second round.
Former World Championships silver medallist Srikanth beat China’s Weng Hong Yang 21-16, 15-21, 21-18 in an hour and 10 minutes. The Indian shuttler will next face Hong Kong, China’s Lee Cheuk Yiu who beat Commonwealth Games gold medallist and eighth-seeded Sen 21-18, 21-11 in their first-round match.
Fifth-seeded Prannoy, last year’s finalist, beat All England Open runner-up Shi Yu Qi of China 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 in a thrilling match that lasted an hour and four minutes. In the second round, Prannoy will be up against Frenchman Christo Popov who knocked out Kiran George 21-14, 21-15.
Mithun also progressed to the second round with a 21-8, 21-17 win over Dutch qualifier Joran Kweekel. Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei will be Mithun’s next opponent.
Commonwealth Games champion and World Championships bronze medallists Satwik and Chirag got past Malaysian qualifiers Boon Xin Yuan and Wong Tien Ci 21-15, 21-18. The second-seeded Indian duo will take on Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee of Chinese Taipei in the second round.
In women’s singles, qualifier Malvika Bansod went down 14-21, 15-21 to Korea’s Kim Ga Eun while Aakarshi Kashyap lost 15-21, 17-21 against Germany’s Yvonne Li. In doubles, N. Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil lost 12-21, 14-21 to Japan’s Sayaka Hobara and Yui Suizu.
In mixed doubles, the sole Indian pair of Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy suffered a 22-20, 19-21, 15-21 defeat against Singapore’s Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han Jessica.