Sindhu loses to Marin
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu faltered on her return to action after a long injury lay-off but in-form HS Prannoy continued his sensational run to progress to the second round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
Sixth seed Sindhu, who was playing her first match since she sustained a stress fracture on her left ankle en route her Commonwealth Games gold in August, lost 12-21, 10-21, 15-21 to Rio Olympics champion Carolina Marin of Spain in 59 minutes.
Earlier, world No. 8 Prannoy lived up to his new status of being India’s best-ranked men’s singles player with a come-from-behind 22-24, 21-12, 21-18 victory over Lakshya Sen, ranked 10th, in an edgy opening-round contest that went for little over an hour. The 30-year-old from Kerala will next face Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-16, 21-13 win over the Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won
Ho.
The world No. 5 pair will meet the Indonesian combination of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana.
Malvika Bansod, however, failed to cross the opening
hurdle, losing 9-21, 13-21 to second seed Korean An Se Young.
The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam lost 10-21, 12-21 to Thailand’s Supissara Paewsampran and Puttita Supajirakul.
Sindhu came into the match with a 5-9 head-to-head record against Marin, who had a tough last few years, having suffered an ACL in both her knees.
The Indian had a rusty start as she struggled with her finishing, allowing an aggressive Marin to grab an 11-3 lead at the interval. The Spaniard then zoomed to eight game points with precise returns, converting them at the first opportunity.
In the second game, Sindhu returned the favour, moving to a massive seven-point lead at the break. The Indian followed up her strokes well, playing
some excellent shots and looking more polished at the net as she grabbed 10 game points with the Spaniard going to the net time and again
