Malaysia Masters 2022: PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap progress; Saina Nehwal bows out

Sindhu began her campaign with a win over He Bingjiao of China in the first round of the women’s singles category, while Sai Praneeth got the better off Kevin Cordon of Guatemala and Kashyap came from a game down to beat Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto.

Playing on court 2, Sindhu won her match 21-13, 17-21, 21-15. Sindhu started off well, winning the first game. She lost the second game, but bounced back to win the final game to seal the match. Sindhu will next face Zhang Yiman of China.

Malaysia Masters 2022: Indian shuttlers in action, schedule, results, telecast and live streaming info

On court 3, Sai Praneeth defeated Cordon 21-8, 21-9, in a match that lasted for 26 minutes and later, Kashyap defeated Sugiarto 16-21, 21-16, 21-16 in a match that lasted for just over an hour. Sai Praneeth will meet Li Shifeng of China, while Kashyap will face Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the second round.

While the duo registered wins in their men’s singles matches, Sameer Verma lost to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-Chen 10-21, 21-12, 21-14, in a match that lasted for 52 minutes also on court 3.

There was further disappointment after Sania Nehwal, who took the first game, crashed out of the competition, losing to Kim Ga-eun of South Korea in the first round of the women’s singles category on court 4. Nehwal lost the match by a margin of 21-16, 17-21, 14-21.

Women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy also lost their opening round match and exited the tournament. The Indian pair lost 19-21, 21-18, 16-21 to Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi of Indonesia.

Earlier on Tuesday (July 5), Malvika Bansod to Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in the first round of the women’s singles category. Playing in court 2, Bansod lost the match by a margin of 21-10, 21-17. Her Malaysian opponent was dominant, winning the match in straight two games.

In court 1, the Indian duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela lost in the first round to the Malaysian duo of Thinaah Muralitharan and Tan Pearly in the women’s doubles category. Also exiting the tournament on day 1 of the Malaysia Masters were doubles pairs Ashwini Bhat K & Shikha Gautam and Pooja Dandu & Arathi Sara Sunil.