In the men’s singles Round of 32 match between Kidambi Srikanth and Koki Watanabe, the Indian badminton star overcame the challenge in a hard-fought one-hour and 12-minute contest to get the better of world No.22 Watanabe in a three-game set (21-15, 21-23, 24-22).
Lakshya Sen also stormed into the pre-quarter-finals after defeating Wang Tzu-wei of Taiwan in a three-game set. Sen won the opening set easily with a 21-13 score line, before his opponent fought back and clinched the second with a 16-21 score.
However, Sen showcased his class in the third set, winning 21-14 to close out the game in his favour. India’s Kiran George made a first-round exit after losing 17-21, 14-21 to Moh Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia.
In the women’s singles event, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu overcame the challenge of Japan’s Manami Suizu in a hard-fought encounter, winning 22-20, 21-18.
In the other encounter, Akarshi Kashyap was eliminated in the opening round. She lost to Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21-8, 20-22, 17-21.
India’s mixed doubles campaign in the ongoing Indonesia Masters ended on a disappointing note after the pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde and Dhruv Kapila and Tanish Crasto made an exit in the very first round.
Kapoor and Gadde lost 9-21, 20-22 to the fourth seeds, Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France. Kapila and Crasto were defeated by Julien Maio and Lea Palermo 23-21, 20-22, 6-21.