PV Sindhu, Kidmabi Srikanth going good in Indonesia

Bali, November 24

India’s double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu showed great determination to outwit her opponent in the women’s singles opening round while B Sai Praneeth and Kidmabi Srikanth advanced into the men’s singles second round at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament here today.

After a slow start, Sindhu, the reigning world champion, engineered a turnaround to register a hard-fought 17-21 21-17 21-17 win over a tenacious Aya Ohori of Japan in one hour and 10 minutes. With the win, Sindhu improved her impressive record against the Japanese shuttler to 11-0.

World No. 7 Sindhu, who made a semifinal exit after suffering a straight-game defeat to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi here last week, will meet Germany’s Yvonne Li in the second round. It will be the first meeting between the third seed Indian and world No. 26 Li.

In the men’s singles, world No. 16 B Sai Praneeth clinched a 21-19 21-18 win over France’s Toma Junior Popov. In a repeat of last week’s Indonesia Masters quarterfinal, Srikanth again got the better of compatriot HS Prannoy.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth, who is coming off two back-to-back semifinal finishes at Hylo Open and Indonesia Masters, continued his good run of form as he eked out a 21-15 19-21 21-12 victory over Prannoy.

The mixed doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and Dhruv Kapila lost to the Japanese duo of Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya. In the women’s doubles event, Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva. — PTI