Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu was eliminated in the first round of the Korea Open 2023 badminton event on Wednesday (July 19) after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu-po at the Yeosu City Hall in Yeosu, South Korea.
The two-time Olympic medalist, who slid to 17th in the BWF rankings earlier this week, was defeated by the Chinese Taipei shuttler in a 58-minute women’s singles opening round match.
Later that day, Kidambi Srikanth fought against former world number one Kento Momota of Japan. The Indian shuttler was defeated by the Japanese opponent in the men’s singles first round match, which lasted an hour and 14 minutes, with a score of 21-12, 22-24, 17-21.
Prannoy defeated Belgium’s Julien Carraggi in straight games 21-13, 21-17 in a 34 minute men’s singles first round match. The Malaysia Masters champion will face the winner of the first round match between Lee Yun Gyu of South Korea and Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
Priyanshu Rajawat, who has been outstanding this year, advanced to the second round of the men’s singles tournament after defeating Choi Ji Hoon in straight games. The WR-32 defeated Choi 21-15, 21-19 in 42 minutes to go to a match against Japan’s top seed Kodai Naraoka.
Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor, who had won the Victor Denmark Masters, progressed to the second round with a 21-17, 21-17 win over Alvin Morada and Alyssa Ysabel Leonardo of the Philippines. They will now face fourth-seeded Chinese players Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping.
Apart from that, the other Indian shuttlers had a bad day. Kiran George was defeated by the WR-29 of Chinese Taipei. Another men’s singles match was won by Wang Tzu Wei 17-21, 9-21. Aakarshi Kashyap, Tasnim Mir, Mithun Manjunath, and Ashmita Chaliha all succumbed in a humbling manner.
The Stoeva sisters walked over Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the women’s doubles. B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa were also defeated in a closely contested mixed doubles match against Song Hyun Cho and Lee Jung Hyun of South Korea.
Featured Image: Mykhel