India’s star shuttler PV shocked 21-15, 16-21, 19-21 in Round One by unseeded Line Christophersen of Denmark; HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen enter pre-quarters
PV Sindhu returns to Denmark’s Line Christophersen in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Pics/Getty Images
India’s two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu bowed out, while HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen earned hard-fought wins to advance in the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament here on Wednesday.
Sindhu, who had reached the BWF World Championships quarter-finals last month, lost the women’s singles round-of-32 contest 21-15, 16-21, 19-21 to unseeded Danish shuttler Line Christophersen.
Denmark’s Line Christophersen
However, Prannoy, ranked 34th in the world, humbled 14th ranked Lu Guang Zu of China 21-17, 21-14 in 44 minutes, while Sen got his campaign going with a gruelling 22-20, 16-21, 21-15 win to secure their places in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals.
Kiran, Ayush progress
Kiran George also secured a place in the men’s singles last-16 getting the better of Singapore’s higher-ranked Jia Heng Jason Teh 21-16, 21-11 in 34 minutes.
World No. 31 Ayush Shetty overcame a stiff challenge from lower-ranked Chinese-Taipei shuttler Su Li Yang 15-21, 21-19, 21-13 in slightly over an hour to secure a place in the last-16 in men’s singles.
For Sindhu, this was her first loss to the 25-year-old Christophersen in six outings, coming at a time when the Indian star was beginning to rediscover her form after early exits at the Swiss Open and Japan Open earlier this year.
Sindhu took an early 3-1 lead in the first game before her opponent equalised 5-all. Leading 14-13, Sindhu upped her game allowing Christophersen just one point before taking the opener. The second game saw the Indian leading 13-12 before errors cropped up in her game as she gave away five points on the trot.
Thrilling encounter
The decider was a battle of nerves with both players going neck and neck till 19-all before two decisive points for Christophersen ended Sindhu’s campaign.
The women’s doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda won their round-of-32 match against Hong Kong’s Oi Ki Vanessa Pang and Sum Yau Wong 17-21, 9-21 in just 28 minutes, while the Chinese Taipei duo of Chen Cheng Kuan and Hsu Yin-Hui got the better of Dhruv Kapil and Tanisha Crasto 16-21, 11-21 in 31 minutes.
India’s Rakshitha Ramraj will play her round-of-32 singles match against fifth-seeded former world champion from Thailand Ratchanok Intanon, while the mixed doubles duo of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde will take on the second-seeded Chinese pair of Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping.
Good start for Sat-Chi
On Tuesday, India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had overcame Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin in their opening round.
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