NINGBO (China), April 10: Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu survived some tense moments before progressing to the women’s singles second round but it was curtains for Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth in men’s singles at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Wednesday.
Sindhu, who is desperately seeking to rediscover her form ahead of the Paris Olympics, almost blew away a five-point advantage in the decider before managing a gritty 18-21 21-14 21-19 win against world number 33 Goh Jin Wei from Malaysia.
Sindhu had lost to her Malaysian opponent the last time they meet in Sudirman Cup though the Indian has a 4-1 record against her.
Next up for Sindhu is China’s Han Yue, against whom the Indian has a flawless 5-0 record.
It was, however, a difficult day for Olympic-bound Sen, who lost 19-21 15-21 to local favourite and top seed Shi Yu Qi, and Srikanth, who suffered a 14-21 13-21 loss against Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting in the opening round.
Talented Priyanshu Rajawat also crashed out in the men’s singles opening round.
Rajawat was no match for eight-seeded Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, losing 9-21 13-21 in 39 minutes.
It was also curtains for the Panda sisters – Rutuparna and Swetaparna – in the opening round of women’s doubles, losing 8-21 13-21 against seventh seeds Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu W of China.
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila too was left heartbroken after losing 21-23 21-19 24-26 against seventh seeded Chinese pair of Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand too went down 2-21 11-21 to fourth seeded Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in women’s doubles opener to dash their faint Paris Olympics qualification hopes.
Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap too faltered in the opening hurdle.
They ended up losing to Korea’s Sim Yu Jin and Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan respectively. (PTI)
