Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu headlined the disappointing day for Indian shuttlers in the Korea Open Badminton as she along with 9 other compatriots lost their first-round matches of the tournament in Seoul on Wednesday.
Sindhu, who has endured a poor season so far, failed to cross the first-round hurdle going down to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po 18-21, 21-10, 13-21 .
The first-round exit in Korea was Sindhu’s sixth opening round ouster in 12 BWF World Tour tournament appearances this season. The Indian had also failed to progress beyond the first hurdle at the Malaysia Open, India Open, All England Open, Thailand Open and Singapore Open.
This was also her first official match under new coach Muhammad Hafiz Hashim. The Malaysian’s appointment was formally announced on Tuesday
Only three of the 13 Indians in the fray could made it to the next round of the tournament .Two of the three wins came in men’s singles. HS Prannoy scored an easy 21-13, 21-17 victory over Belgium’s Julien Carraggi while Priyanshu Rajawat defeated Korea’s Choi Ji Hoon 21-15, 21-19 to set up a second-round clash against Japanese top seed Kodai Naraoka.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth conceded a lead to go down 12-21, 24-22, 21-17 to Japan’s Kento Momota in men’s singles while his compatriot Kiran George lost 17-21, 9-21 to Chinese Taipei shuttler Wang Tzu Wei. Mithun Manjunath suffered an 11-21, 4-21 loss to Malaysian NG Tze Yong.
In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod lost 21-17, 21-7 to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, the current world No. 4. Ashmita Chaliha, lost tothe reigning Olympic champion China’s Chen Yu Fei. 13-21,12-21 .
Another Chinese shuttler, Zhang Yi Man, ousted Aakarshi Kashyap from the first-round while Tasnim Mir fell to local player Kim Ga Yun. Japan’s Saena Kawakami accounted for Tanya Hemnath .
B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 21-23, 21-13, 12-21 to the Korean pair of Song Hyun Cho and Lee Jung Hyun. Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy, meanwhile, made the second round in mixed doubles defeating the Philippines’ Alvin Morada and Alyssa Ysabel Leonardo 21-17, 21-17.
The series of defeats on Wednesday only leaves Prannoy and Priyanshu Rajawat (men’s singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles), Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand (women’s doubles) and Rohan Kapoor-N Sikki Reddy (mixed doubles) as the Indian challengers still alive at the Korea Open 2023.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their men’s doubles first round match on Tuesday while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand received a walkover in their opener.
