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India's biggest singles stars got off to a winning start at the Badminton Asia Championships 2018 as the battle for supremacy in Asia began at Wuhan, China on Wednesday. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal had the easiest time on court out of all the Indians and she needed just 33 minutes to book her berth in the second round.
While Swiss Open champion Sameer Verma was the only Indian casualty in singles, the rest had to work hard for their wins. 2014 bronze medallist PV Sindhu narrowly avoided dropping a game against the World No. 21 Yu Po Pai in her 21-14, 21-19 win over the Chinese Taipei player.
The others were not so lucky. Each of Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth were involved in three-game duels, but managed to hold their nerves to get the win in the end. Clearly, they needed some time to battle tiredness and find their rhythm after their Gold Coast exploits.
In doubles, all the Indians, who went to Australia, have been rested. In their absence, Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran did well to topple the 26th ranked Chung Eui Seok and Kim Dikyoung in the first round.
With Nozomi Okuhara and Lin Dan's shock first round exits, the paths have opened up for Nehwal and Prannoy respectively. It remains to be seen if they can capitalize on their chances.
Here is all the information you need to know
Tournament name: Badminton Asia Championships 2018
Category: Continental Individual Championships
Points on offer for winner: 9200
Venue: Wuhan Sports Centre, Wuhan, China
Round: Second
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2018
Schedule of India’s matches:
Men’s singles
(1) Kidambi Srikanth vs Wong Wing Ki Vincent at 8.15am
B Sai Praneeth vs (3) Chen Long at 12 noon
HS Prannoy vs Wang Tzu Wei at 12.45pm
Women's singles
Saina Nehwal vs Gao Fangjie at 12 noon
(3) PV Sindhu vs Chen Xiaoxin at approx 12.15pm
Men's doubles
Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran vs Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen at approx 8.45am
Women's doubles
Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram vs (7) Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai at 10.30am
(All timings in Indian Standard Time)
Channel: Live telecast on D Sport quarter-final onwards
Live Updates: On Sportskeeda
