Jakarta: Pusarla Venkata Sindhu on Wednesday beat Japan’s Aya Chori to progress to the second round of the ongoing Indonesia Masters 2020 badminton tournament being played at Jakarta ‘s Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace in Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex. Sindhu, the reigning world champion, came from one game down and won the match 14-21, 21-15, 21-11 against Aya Chori.
Sindhu thus far is the only Indian to progress to the next round with Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Sourabh Verma and mixed doubles pair Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy all losing their first round matches earlier in the day.
Saina, who is the defending champion in the women`s singles category, lost to Japan’s Sayaki Takahashi. She won the first game but then was completely outclassed in the second and third with the final scoreline reading 19-21, 21-13, 21-5 in the Japanese player’s favour.
Srikanth went down to local favourite Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-18, 12-21, 14-21 in a match lasting one hour and three minutes. It was Srikanth`s second consecutive opening round defeat this season as he had also made a first round exit from the Malaysia Masters held from 7- 12 January at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.
Sourabh lost to Chinese shuttler Lu Guangzu in the opening round as well. Despite winning the first game 21-17, the Indian shuttler went down 15-21, 10-21 in the next two rounds to crash out of the tournament.
In mixed doubles, the Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy went down in straight games to the South Korean duo of Ko Sung Hyun and Eom Hye Won 8-21, 14-21.
Later, the men`s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take the court as will Sameer Verma, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy in men`s singles.
Bureau Report
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