Japan Open 2019: PV Sindhu moves into second round; Kidambi Srikanth knocked out 

The Indian badminton contingent had a mixed day as PV Sindhu moved into the second round of the Super 750 Japan Open played at Tokyo on Wednesday. The biggest disappointment was that Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out by his own compatriot, HS Prannoy.

The latter stunned Srikanth 13-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a gruelling battle to move into Round 2. The eighth seeded Srikanth produced his usual dominating display to win the first game easily. The second game saw Prannoy fighting back aggressively, shocking his training partner to take the game, thus forcing the match into a decider. The third game saw both Prannoy and Srikanth fighting for each point before Prannoy held his nerves to win the game and match. He will take on Rasmus Gemke of Denmark next.

Sameer Verma lost to Anders Antonsen 17-21, 12-21 to be knocked out of the tournament. The Indian could not provide any resistance against Anders and lost the match easily.

PV Sindhu produced a dominating performance to beat China’s Han Yue 21-9, 21-17. In the first game, Sindhu proved too strong for her opponent who could not match her in placements or the power of shots. Despite making an attempt to slow down things in the 2nd game, the Chinese could not prevent the Indian from winning the game. Sindhu will take on Aya Ohori of Japan next.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 21-16, 21-17 to enter the 2nd round. Rankireddy and Shetty produced a powerful performance against the Olympic bronze medallists for a confidence-boosting victory.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy were no match for the Korean pair of Kim and Kong and lost 16-21, 14-21 to end their journey.

In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy found it difficult to counter number 1 ranked Zheng and Huang and went down 11-21, 14-21. The Indians failed to match the speed of the Chinese which led to the defeat.