Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu suffered a shock exit from the Indian Open 2023 in the opening round on Tuesday as she went down in straight games against Supanida Katethong of Thailand in New Delhi.
Sindhu lost 14-21, 20-22 against Katethong, who had defeated the Indian in the semifinals at this tournament last year.
This is the second time in succession that Sindhu has crashed out in the first round on the BWF Tour upon her return from a 5-month injury lay-off.
Meanwhile, former world No. 3 Saina Nehwal made a winning start to her campaign by beating Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-17, 12-21, 21-19 in just over one hour.
This was Saina's first win against Blichfeldt in three meetings on the tour.
“I have been working on my movement and I was confident that I could win the match today. I could see that my movement was good today and I was determined to fight for every point,” Saina said after the match.
She will next face China’s Chen Yufei in the next round.
Other Indians - Lakshya Sen, Satwisairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (men's doubles), Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala - too advanced to the next stage.
Lakshya Sen knocks out HS Prannoy
HS Prannoy, India's highest-ranked men's singles player, also crashed out of the tournament in the first round after going down against defending champion and fellow countryman Lakshya Sen.
The women's doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and Shruti Mishra were also shown the door.
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