Indian star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth marched into the second round of the Australian Open 2023 badminton Super 500 tournament at the State Sports Centre in Sydney, on Wednesday.
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World No.17 Sindhu defeated compatriot Ashmita Chaliha 21-18, 21-13 to make the round of 16. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will face compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap, 40th in badminton rankings, on Thursday. Aakarshi Kashyap made it to the second round with a 21-15, 21-17 win over Malaysia’s world No. 34 Goh Jin Wei in the first round.
Sindhu has not won a single title this year. The 2019 world champion, has not been in form since recovering from injury. She made early exits in seven of the 12 BWF World Tour tournaments this year. Earlier this year, Sindhu parted ways with Korean coach Park Tae-sang. She was working with Sports Authority of India coach Vidhi Chaudhary before the arrival of new coach Mohammad Hafeez Hashim.
On the other hand, world No. 19 Kidambi Srikanth beat world No. 14 Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-18, 21-7 in his opener. The Indian shuttler will play Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei, ranked 37th, in the second round on Thursday.
Sindhu and Srikanth would like to bid goodbye to their poor form through the Australian Open 2023 badminton tournament started here on Tuesday. This tournament is the last chance for Sindhu and Srikanth to regain their lost form.
Meanwhile, in the other men’s singles event, HS Prannoy, India’s highest-ranked singles shuttler at world No. 9, fended off a challenge from world No. 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu from Hong Kong to win 21-18, 16-21, 21-15. The Indian badminton player will take on either Canada’s Brian Yang or Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen.
Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat, ranked 31, also advanced to the second round of the Australian Open 2023 badminton tournament. He defeated world No. 113 Nathan Tang of Australia 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes. After that, Rajawat set up a clash against Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in the next round.
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However, India’s challenge in the mixed doubles ended after BS Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor-N Sikki Reddy lost their respective Australian Open 2023 badminton opening-round matches. BS Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa lost to the Japanese pair of Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito 13-21, 12-21. While Rohan Kapoor-N Sikki Reddy was beaten by Republic of Korea’s Seo Seungjae-Chae Yujung 14-21, 18-21.
Results at the Australian Open 2023 badminton tournament will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris Games. The qualification window for badminton in the Paris 2024 Olympics started on May 1. The Australian Open 2023 badminton will conclude on Sunday.
