Muelheim An Der Ruhr (Germany): Top Indian shuttlers including double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and World Championships silver and bronze winners Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, progressed to the second round of the German Open badminton tournament here Tuesday. Also joining them in the second round were London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and former top 10 player H S Prannoy.
Seventh seed PV Sindhu trounced Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-8, 21-7 in a lop-sided contest. Sindhu was too good for her Thai opponent. Srikanth, seeded eighth, saw off France’s World N0. 39 Brice Leverdez 21-10, 13-21, 21-7 in 48 minutes after a hard fight.
It was Sindhu’s 15th win over the World No. 11 Thai player, while Srikanth too extended his head-to-head count over Leverdez to 4-0 after this victory.
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Sindhu, the 2019 World Champion, will meet China’s Zhang Yi Man next, while World No. 11 Srikanth will take on China’s Lu Guang Zu. He has a 2-0 head-to-head record against the Chinese, ranked 27th.
Later in the day, Sen, who had claimed the India Open title in January, dished out a superb performance to outwit Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-6, 22-20.
Saina, who has been struggling with fitness issues for most part of last year and early this year, had to dig deep to stave off a challenge from Spain’s Clara Azurmendi with a 21-15, 17-21, 21-14 win.
Sen will now square off against fourth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, while Saina is likely to take on eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon.
On a comeback trail, Prannoy also made a winning start, beating Ng Ka Long Angus 21-14, 21-19 in 40 minutes.
In other results, Indonesian pair of Adnan Maulana and Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso ended the campaign of India’s Dhruv Kapila and Gayatri Gopichand with a 21-19, 21-19 win, while Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan and Ashna Roy were no match for Italian combination of Martina Corsini and Judith Mair and lost 9-21, 10-21.
