Fifth-seeded P V Sindhu went down 14-21, 20-22 to Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the opening round of the India Open, a BWF World Tour Super 750 event, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
This is Sindhu’s second first-round exit this year after loss to Spain’s Carolina Marin at last week’s Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur. World No. 7 Sindhu had spent the rest of the 2022 season on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury she suffered during her gold medal-winning run at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
In a rematch of last year’s semifinal, Sindhu got off to a poor start and trailed the Thai shuttler 4-11 at the halfway stage in the opening game. The local hope reduced the gap to two points at 11-13 but from 14-17, Katethong won four straight points to close the game.
The second game was closer with Sindhu trailing Katethong by only two points at the mid-game interval. From 16-19 down, the Indian clinched four points in a row and had the opportunity to level things up. However, World No. 30 and last year’s runner-up Katethong won the next three points to book her place in the second round.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Lakshya Sen defeated HS Prannoy 21-14, 21-15 in the opening round. Men’s doubles pairs of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnu Goud Panjala, and the women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand also won their respective first-round matches.
However, the other two Indian women’s doubles pair of Shruti Mishra-Sikki Reddy and Haritha Manazhiyil H-Ashna Roy, and the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto crashed out of the tournament.
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