Smooth sailing for PV Sindhu at World Championships
August 23, 2017
PV Sindhu cleared the first hurdle with ease on the second day of the BWF World Championships in Glasgow on Tuesday. Kim Hyo Min was expected to give tough time to the Indian but the South Korean lost 16-21, 14-21 in the women’s singles second round.
Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram cleared the first round without breaking any sweat. Praneeth defeated Wei Nan of Hong Kong 21-18, 21-17 and Jayaram put out Luka Wraber of Austria 21-14, 21-12. In the second round, Praneeth faces Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. Praneeth had lost to Ginting in their only meeting in the Thomas Cup last year. Jayaram will play Mark Caljouw next.
Only one – Pranaav Chopra and Sikki Reddy – of the three mixed doubles teams from India remain in the championships. Pranaav and Sikki advanced to the third round with a 21-12, 21-19 victory over Indian-Malaysian combine of Prajakta Sawant and Yogendran Khrishnan. Though they faced some resistance towards the end of the second game, the duo looked comfortable throughout the contest. The other Indian mixed doubles teams tumbled out. While Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa stretched Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping of China before succumbing 17-21, 21-18, 5-21, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Maneesha went down to Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen of Denmark 20-22, 18-21.
Earlier, Sindhu got off to a brisk 8-0 start against Kim. It was no different in the second game as Sindhu was in total control. In the third round, Sindhu faces the winner of the tie between Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong or Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia.
Late on Monday, Tanvi Lad and Rituparna Das advanced to the women’s singles second round.
