Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the women’s singles second round but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen in the men’s event at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Tuesday.
While two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu struggled past world number 28 Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 21-14, 18-21, 21-10 in a 56-minute opening round match, Aakarshi, ranked 38th, rallied her way to stun German’s world number 26 Li Yvonne 10-21, 22-20, 21-12 in another match.
Sindhu, who had reached the semifinals of Arctic Open last week, will face a tricky opponent in Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, seeded seventh, in the next round. The Indonesian has defeated her twice in the last three meetings this year though Sindhu has an overall 8-2 head-to-head record.
Aakarshi will also have her task cut out as she will square off against left-handed Thai Supanida Katethong next. The world number 19 Thai had defeated the Indian in their only meeting at Singapore Open this year.
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For 2021 world championships silver medallist Srikanth, it turned out to be a disappointing day as his gallant fight ended with a 21-19, 10-21, 16-21 loss to China’s world number 22 Weng Hong Yang in the men’s singles opening round.
Sen, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, also couldn’t get past the opening hurdle, going down 16-21, 18-21 to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen.
Recently-crowned Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out of the tournament and their opponents Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia advanced to the second round.
HS Prannoy, who won a bronze medal at the Asian Games, had also pulled out due to a back injury. The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand and the men’s doubles combination of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also pulled out before the start of the tournament.
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