Mixed day for India on the inaugural day of the Malaysia Open Super Series Badminton Tournament as Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu entered the women’s second round but two of Indian men shutters, HS Prannoy and K Srikanth failed to cross the first hurdle and crashed out.
After a semifinal finish at the India Open last week, Saina made a positive start to her campaign at the USD 550,000 event here as she notched up her sixth win over Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol 21-16 21-7 in 30 minutes.
The 26-year-old Indian, seeded third, will next meet Korea’s Bae Yeon Ju, who had ended Sindhu’s campaign last week in New Delhi.
Sixth seed Sindhu beat He Bingjiao of China 21-16 21-17 in a 40-minute women’s singles first round match to avenge her defeat to the same opponent in the 2015 Indonesian Masters and 2016 Swiss Open.
The two-time bronze medalist at World Championship, Sindhu will next take on seventh seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun, who had lost to Saina in India Open last week.
However in men’s singles, Rio Olympics hopefuls HS Prannoy and K Srikanth failed to cross the opening hurdle.
Srikanth, who failed to defend his title at India Open last week after going down to China’s Tian Houwei in the opening round, continued to find the going tough in super series events.
His 3-1 record against Boonsak Ponsana accounted for nothing as Srikanth ended with a 21-23 21-9 10-21 loss against the Thailand shuttler after a 53-minute battle.
Prannoy, who clinched the Swiss Open last month, fought hard before going down 19-21 20-22 to India Open champion, Kento Momota of Japan, seeded third here. Prannoy lost in the opening round of India Open as well.
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