India’s ace shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy lost their first round matches at the Singapore Open 2023 on Tuesday.
Sindhu’s match against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi went to three games with Sindhu failing to stage a comeback after losing the second game. The Indian lost 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 to the Japanese in a match that went on for an hour while Prannoy lost third-seeded Kodai Naraoka 15-21 19-21.
Meanwhile, Priyanshu Rajawat progressed to the round-of-16 with a comprehensive 21-12, 21-15 win over Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in men’s singles event that clocked just 38 minutes.
On the other hand, the Indian duo of Arjun and Dhruv beat France’s Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-16, 21-15 in 42 minutes.
Shortly after, Lakshya Sen went down to Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, despite winning the first game. The Indian lost 21-18, 17-21, 13-21 in a match that went on for an hour and nine minutes.
In other women’s singles matches, both Saina Nehwal and Aakarshi Kashyap bow out of the tournament from the first round.
Nehwal was dominated by former World Number 1, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 13-21, 15-21, while Kashyap could not stand against Supanida Katethong. Katethong, the Southeast Asian gold medallist thrashes the Indian 17-21, 9-21 to register an easy straight games win.
In the other men’s matches, Kidambi Srikanth and the doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila entered the second round.
Srikanth defeated Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in 43 minutes with a scoreline of 21-15, 21-19.
