Sindhu, Srikanth advance to second round of Indonesia Masters
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round of their respective events at the Indonesia Masters badminton tournament here on Wednesday. While fifth seed Sindhu beat Manami Suizu of Japan 22-20 21-18 in a 53-minute women’s singles match, Srikanth, currently ranked 33rd in the world, battled for one hour and 12 minutes to get the better of world No.22 Koki Watanabe 21-15 21-23 24-22.
Srikanth will next play fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, who defeated Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 21-14 21-15 in another first round match.But Kiran George made a first round exit after losing 17-21 14-21 to Moh Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia. In women’s singles, Akarshi Kashyap too bowed out in the opening round, losing to Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21-8 20-22 17-21.
India’s campaign ended in mixed doubles with the pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde and Dhruv Kapila and Tanish Crasto exiting in the very first round. While Kapoor and Gadde lost 9-21 20-22 to fourth seeds Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France, Kapila and Crasto were shown the door by another French pair of Julien Maio and Lea Palermo 23-21 20-22 6-21.
