Odense: India’s leading shuttlers Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth made a positive start to their campaign, reaching the second round of the USD 650,000 Denmark Open Super Series Premier here on Wednesday.
World No. 1 Saina survived a scare before prevailing over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungphan in women’s singles, while Srikanth saw off compatriot and Dutch Open winner Ajay Jayaram in men’s singles. Sindhu also advanced after beating Indonesia’s Maria Febe Kusumastuti 21-13 21-11.
2012 champion Saina had beaten the Thai girl at the Japan Open this year but those results mattered little as the two squared up in their first game of the tournament.
After the end of the gruelling contest that lasted an hour and nine minutes, Saina saw off Busanan 23-21 14-21 21-18 in the women’s singles match. The World Championship silver medallist will next take on 2012 French Open champion Japan’s Minatsu Mitani.
In men’s singles, Srikanth was up against compatriot Jayaram and it was the former who came up with a better performance as he notched up a 21-10 21-14 win in a 32-minute match here.
The India Open champion will next meet the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto and Japan’s Sho Sasaki.
World No 8 Parupalli Kashyap, however, suffered a 14-21 15-21 loss to former World No. 1 and two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia to bow out of the tournament. (PTI)
