Top female shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu cruise in opening round to brighten up yet another dull day for India in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro: India's top women's singles players Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu won their first group matches in contrasting styles on Day One of the badminton competition yesterday.
India's Saina Nehwal smashes en route to her 21-17, 21-17 win over Brazil's Lohaynny Vicente in the women’s singles first round at the Riocentro Stadium in Rio yesterday. Pics/AFP
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While Sindhu did not even allow her opponent, Laura Sarosi to get into double digits in either game, Saina was stretched to 21-17, 21-17.
The local Brazilian player Lohaynny Vicente, buoyed by the home crowd, gave Saina a tough time. But the former World No 1 managed to pull through crucial stretches and win in 39 minutes. Saina, the fifth seed here, and London 2012 bronze-winner, opened a handy 6-2 lead in first game, before Vicente reduced it to 5-7 and then came closer at 10-11.
Vicente then caught up at 17-all, but Saina reeled off four points in a row to win 21-17. In the second game, it was 2-2 before Saina went all out to make it 11-5. Again the Brazilian fought back to get to 11-14. But then Saina sped to 20-14 for six match. The Brazilian saved three match points before the Indian closed the game and the match.
PV Sindhu returns to Hungary's Laura Sarosi during their first round match in Rio yesterday
In contrast, Sindhu was dominant almost form the word go, running up a 8-4 lead which swelled to 11-4. Seeming to totally relaxed, but still not being casual Sindhu wrapped up the first game 21-8 and then moved to the second, Sarosi stayed with Sindhu till 4-4 before the Indian raced ahead to 11-6, and then won 21-9.
'Very excited'
"I was not taking it easy; at this level you don't do that. I was very excited about my first match. Proved to be an easy match. I was trying out my strokes. The crowd really supported me," Sindhu said.
In the men's doubles, Ahsan Mohammed and Hendra Setiawan, the world's number two pair, made short work of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy 21-18, 21-13 in 33 minutes for their first win in Group D, which has four pairs of which the top two will advance into the quarter-finals.
The Indonesians, who are seeded first in Group D, and ranked No. 2 in the world, gave the Indians little chance. Their court craft and coverage and just about every aspect of the game. In short it was one-sided with the Indonesians dominating the match.
Ahsan and Setiawan have won the 2013 and 2015 world title together, while Setiawan won the Olympic gold in 2008 with Markis Kido. In the last couple of years, Ahsan and Setiawan have also won Asian Games and multiple titles in BWF Superseries.
The Indians had a losing start in women's doubles, where Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to World No. 1 pair Japan's Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 21-15, 21-10 in 38 minutes. The other two pairs in Group A are Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of Netherlands and Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.
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