World champion P V Sindhu suffered a shock defeat on her return to international badminton, losing in three games to Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in the opening round of YONEX Thailand Open Super 1000 event here on Tuesday.
Months after the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the international calendar, Sindhu, seeded sixth, returned to action with a 21-16, 24-26, 13-21 defeat to world No 18 Blichfeldt in a 74-minute battle.
In men’s singles, world No 13 B Sai Praneeth too suffered a straight game loss to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen on his return to competition.
Frontrunner to represent India at the Olympics, Praneeth went down 16-21, 10-21 to the world No 15 Wangcharoen for only his second loss to the Thailand player.
Earlier in the day, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini claimed a 21-11, 27-29, 21-16 win over the Indonesian pair of Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Widjaja.
However, the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy couldn’t cross the opening hurdle, going down 16-21, 7-21 to fourth seeded Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong.