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The second day of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament witnessed yet another mixed performance from the Indian shuttlers. With a solitary triumph in three matches on Wednesday (January 10), fans were left disappointed.
The men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty provided a bright start for India, initiating their 2024 campaign with a resounding victory. However, India’s ace men’s singles players, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen, both faced disappointing losses.
A closer look at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 Day 2 results
In Malaysia Open men’s doubles, the world No. 2 pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced stiff resistance from Indonesia’s Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Maulana Bagas. But they managed to secure a hard-fought win.
The first set saw the former World No. 1 duo of Satwik and Chirag stick to their incredibly attacking game. Despite going neck to neck throughout, the Indians didn't give their opponents any chance to take the lead throughout the set. They eventually sealed it with a score of 21-18.
The second set witnessed some incredibly powerful smashes and deceptive play from Satwik and Chirag. Despite the scores being level twice in the set, first at 7-7 and then 16-16, the Indian duo kept their nerves, taking the lead on both occasions. They wrapped up the set at 21-19, and the final scoreline read 21-18, 21-19.
The Indian pair will now take on Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar from France in the next round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000.
In the men’s singles category, world no. 8, HS Prannoy, a key contender for India at the Olympics, faced an early exit. He lost his opening-round match against Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.
Coming off a spectacular season with bronze medals at the World Championships and the Asian Games, Prannoy looked a little sluggish. He was unable to match his opponent’s pace, succumbing to a defeat with a scoreline of 14-21, 11-21, in 43 minutes.
The disappointment continued for India as Lakshya Sen too suffered a first-round exit at the hands of China’s Weng Hong Yang. The 23-year-old Indian, who is an Olympic hope for the country, is currently ranked World No. 16, just within the qualification ranking cut-off.
Sen hasn’t had the best year in terms of performance, facing seven first-round exits in eleven tournaments. Despite glimpses of promise in the match, the Chinese shuttler secured a comfortable straight-set victory with a scoreline of 15-21, 16-21 in 49 minutes. He added to Sen’s woes, making it his fifth first-round exit in a row.
The pre-quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament will take place on January 11. The spotlight now shifts to the remaining Indian shuttlers, Kidambi Srikanth, and the doubles pairs of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, and Satwik and Chirag.
