Malaysia Open | Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu qualify as HS Prannoy, Saina Nehwal bow out

Kidambi Srikanth, who came to the tournament as the eighth seed, was up against Indonesia’s Ihsan Maulana Mustofa and was clearly the favourite coming into the match. However, he received a hostile welcome as Mustofa went toe to toe against the Indian before Srikanth just went past a point at 11-10 at the break. 

Srikanth had opened up a good up at 17-13 post-break could only win the first game 21-18 in the end. The intense first game had taken a lot from the Indonesian shuttler and he was seemingly struggling 6-11 at the break of the second game. It was too big a gap and in the end, Srikanth had an easy 21-16 win to snatch the match.

Sindhu was expecting a bit more competition against Japan’s Aya Ohori in her first match of the campaign and she got exactly that as after going neck and neck until 7-7, Ohori opened up a massive 12-7 lead with Sindhu looking at yet another upset at that time. The Indian had to do brilliantly to level things at 12-12 before Ohori was running away with the game at 19-16.

However, the experience was invaluable and Sindhu was seen all of what she has to level things at 20-20 before winning the first game 22-20. The second game was an easier task for Sindhu as well as she broke Ohori’s spirit in the first game. Sindhu went into the break of the second game leading 11-5 before winning the second game 21-12.

HS Prannoy and Saina Nehwal should have sealed the deal against Thai opponents Sitthikom Thammasin and Pornpawee Chochuwong respectively. However, both of them were surprisingly stretched to the decider before the Indian were outplayed. While Prannoy lost 21-12, 16-21, 14-21, Nehwal was defeated 22-20, 15-21, 10-21.

In the men’s doubles match India’s Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy had a straight games loss against Chinese pair Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong 21-6, 21-6.