JAKARTA, June 3: Young Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty came from behind to pull off a dramatic victory and advance to the pre-quarterfinals, while star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were forced to retire midway through their opening-round match at the Indonesia Open here on Wednesday.
The mixed doubles combination of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde advanced to the second round as they upset World No. 20 Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang of Chinese Taipei 21-14 21-14.
Shetty, ranked 20th, battled for 66 minutes before notching up an 8-21 22-20 21-15 win over World No. 15 Hong Yang Weng of China in the opening round of the Super 1000 tournament, After being outplayed in the first game, the 21-year-old Indian produced a spirited fightback, overturning an 11-15 deficit in the second game with a series of superb rallies to force a decider.
The Badminton Asia Championships silver medallist looked in complete control in the third game as he sealed his place in the second round, where he will face Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu.
Satwik and Chirag, meanwhile, were forced to retire just seven minutes into their opening men’s doubles match after a shoulder problem troubled the former.
Fresh from ending their two-year title drought with a triumph at the Singapore Open last week, the Indian duo were trailing 6-11 against Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai when Satwik was seen pointing to his right shoulder, prompting the match to be called off.
In men’s singles, HS Prannoy suffered a first-round exit after losing to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in a hard-fought three-game encounter.
After dropping the opening game 17-21, Prannoy bounced back to take the second 21-16 but failed to maintain the momentum, going down 19-21 in the decider.
In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda lost in straight games to former world number one Japanese Nozomi Okhuara 15-21 14-21.
In mixed doubles, Rohan and Ruthvika outplayed higher ranked Chinese Taipei pair Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang in just 34 minutes. Tough battle awaits as they meet defending champions Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France in next stage.
In women’s singles on Thursday, PV Sindhu will face An Se Young while Hariharan-Arjun will meet Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai who advanced after Satwik-Chirag exited during the opening game due to the former’s injury. (PTI)
