India got their Badminton Asia Team Championships campaign off to a near perfect start on Wednesday as both the Men’s and Women’s registered comfortable wins against Singapore in Hyderabad.
Kidambi Srikanth had it a bit tough against Derek Wong but came though eventually 21-16 12-21 21-13 to get the hosts off to a good start. Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy then made it 2-0 beating the pair of Yong Kei Terry/ Kean Hean Loh 21-15 21-14.
Ajay Jayaram sealed his tie in straight games against Kean Yew Loh 21-18 21-18 as did HS Prannoy who won his contest in straight games as well, beating Zin Rei Ryan 21-10 21-12. Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra also won their match in two games, defeating Danny Chisnanta/ Hendra Wijaya 21-14 21-13.
The Women’s team also had a relatively easy affair with PV Sindhu continuing her strong start to 2016, beating Xiaoyu Liang 21-17 21-11. PC Thulasi then made it two-out-of-two for the hosts, overcoming the threat of Hui Zhen Grace 21-16 21-7.
Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, fresh from her South Asian Games Gold winning exploits, defeated Jia Min Yeo 21-14 21-11 to make it 3-0. The experienced pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa then made it 4-0 when they beat Shinta Mulia Sari/ Wei Ha Ten 21-18 21-16. Sindhu then partnered Sikki Reddy to complete the drubbing, beating Jia Ying Crystal/Jia Ming Jeo 21-8 21-14.
With this win, both the Men’s and the Women’s team booked their spot in the quarterfinals of the competition scheduled to be held on Friday.
