Malaysia Open: Prannoy, Sindhu and Srikanth reach second round, Malvika, Ashmita and Aakarshi lose

HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth entered the second round of the Malaysian Open badminton tournament. Prannoy caused an upset by defeating sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in a three-game struggle. Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap and Ashmita Chaliha suffered first round defeats.

Prannoy defeated Chen 16-21, 21-14, 21-13 in a battle that lasted one hour and four minutes. He will take on China’s Li Shi Feng in the next round. Sindhu also had to fight for the win. She defeated Denmark’s Lynn Kristofferson 21-13, 17-21, 21-18. Sindhu will next take on Japan’s Aya Ohri. Srikanth easily defeated Toma Junior Popov of France 21-12, 21-16. He will play Thailand’s Kunlawat Witidsarn in the next round. Malvika was defeated by second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China 21-11, 21-13, Aakarshi was defeated by fourth seed Yu Han of China 21-17, 21-7 and Ashmita was defeated by top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-17, 21-17. Beaten 21-12.