Sindhu, Saina, Srikanth, Praneeth enter 2nd round of India Open

Speed Post News Network

Patna : World Number 3 P V Sindhu, 22, India, and World Number 10 Saina Nehwal, 27, India, entered the second round of India Open Badminton tournament, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 event, on January 31, 2018, at Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi.

Sindhu, the top seed,  defeated World Number 43 Natalia Koch Rohde, Denmark, 21-10, 21-13, in 33 minutes, while Saina, the Number 4seed,  defeated Demark’s 21 year old Sofie Holmboe Dahl, 21-15, 21-9 in 41 minutes. Sofie, the World Number 55, put up some fight in the first set but completely dominated the second set.

In the Men’s section, World Number 3 Kidambi Srikanth, 24, India, the Number 2 seed, beat Lie Cheuk Yiu, Hongkong, in a tough contest 21-17, 21-18 to enter the second round. But, World Numbr 10 H S Pranoy, 25, India, lost to compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 4-21, 6-21 in just 13 minutes due to foot injury. Pranoy, the Number 5 seed,  had corn in his foot.

BWF has made it mandatory for top 15 players to play a minimum of 12 tournaments in a year. Pranoy had already missed two BWF events this year hence participated in India Open Badminton despite carrying injury.

World Number 16 B Sai Praneeth, India, the Number 8 seed, also advanced to the second round defeating Rajiv Ouseph, England, in a three-set thriller 21-11, 17-21, 21-17.