Korea Open 2023: PV Sindhu. Srikanth suffer first round exit; Prannoy, Rajawat enter second round

The two-time Olympic medallist, who dropped to 17th in BWF ranking earlier this week, lost to the Chinese Taipei shuttler by a scoreline of 18-21, 21-10, 13-21 in the women’s singles opening round match that lasted for 58 minutes.

This was also Sindhu’s sixth exit in the opening round of a tournament in a total of 13 tournaments played this year. Since her return from injury, Sindhu has just reached a final of a tournament just once this year.

The Commonwealth Games champion dropped the first game 18-21 after a tight contest, but fought back to force a decider by running away with the second game 21-10. The third game was once again dominated by the Taiwanese shuttler, who sealed the match by winning the game 21-13.

Later in the day, Kidambi Srikanth also went dow fighting against former world number one Kento Momota of Japan. The Indian shuttler lost to the Japanese opponent by a scoreline of 21-12, 22-24, 17-21 in the men’s singles first round match that lasted for an hour and 14 minutes.

While Sindhu and Srikanth suffered first round exits, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat and mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy-Rohan Kapoor were the only Indian representatives to secure wins on Wednesday (July 19) as one other doubles pair and seven more singles players all bowed out.

Prannoy eased past Belgium’s Julien Carraggi by straight games 21-13, 21-17 in the men’s singles first round match that lasted for 34 minutes. The Malaysia Masters champion will next face the winner of the first round match between South Korea’s Lee Yun Gyu and Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu.

Rajawat, meanwhile, saw off Korea’s Choi Ji Hoon in straight games 21-15, 21-19 in the men’s singles opener that lasted for 41 minutes. Rajawat will next face top seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the second round on Thursday (July 20).

Korea Open 2023: Indian Shuttlers Schedule, Results, Telecast & Live Streaming Info

In the other singles matches, Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George, Akarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod, Ashmita Chaliha, Tanya Hemanth and Tasnim Mir all lost their respective encounters.

Kapoor and Reddy pair defeated Alvin Moroda-Alyssa Leonardo pair from Philippines via straight games 21-17, 21-17 in the mixed doubles opening round match that lated for 34 minutes. They will next face fourth seed Chinese pair of Feng Yan Zhe & Huang Dong Ping in the second round.

In the only other doubles match, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa pair suffered a defeat a closely contested mixed doubles match against South Korean pair of Song Hyun Cho and Lee Jung Hyun.

Earlier on Tuesday (July 18), top men’s doubles pair of Satwinsairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty breezed past Thailand pair Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren to reach the second round, while women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand received a walkover from their opponents.