Badminton Asia Championships 2024: P.V. Sindhu, H.S. Prannoy stage dramatic comebacks, Sen loses to Yuqi

Sindhu overcomes early deficit, Prannoy saves three match points.

P.V. Sindhu began the Badminton Asia Championships on a positive note, defeating Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei. Sindhu lost the first game to the World No. 33 Goh, 21-18. However, the two-time Olympic medalist made a strong comeback in the second and third games. The World No. 12 converted her fifth match point to win a hard-fought first round match with scores of 18-21, 21-14, 21-19. The match lasted 64 minutes.

Sindhu will now face the sixth-seeded Chinese player Han Yue for a place in the quarterfinals.

In the men’s singles, H.S. Prannoy defeated Lu Guang Zu in an encounter that lasted 90 minutes. Prannoy was down a game and seven points behind in the final set, but made a startling comeback to seal the match with scores of 17-21, 23-21, 23-21. Prannoy saved a total of three match points. This victory marks his first win over Lu.

The world No. 9 will now face Lin Chun-yi from Taiwan in the Round of 16.

In a disappointment in the same category, Lakshya Sen lost to World No. 2, Shi Yuqi, with scores of 19-21, 15-21. Last month, Sen reached back-to-back semifinals at the French Open and the All-England Open.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto also advanced to the next round as their opponents, Febrina Dwipuji Kusuma and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi from Indonesia retired. The World No. 20 pair will now face Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida from Japan in the Round of 16.

Earlier this month, the world No. 1 pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy withdrew from the BAC. Satwik has suffered a shoulder injury and consequently, the reigning BAC champions decided to withdraw.

Results (Other results)

Men’s Singles:

• Priyanshu Rajawat lost to Lee Zii Jia (9-21, 13-21).

• Kidambi Srikanth lost to Anthony Ginting of Indonesia (14-21, 13-21).

Women’ Singles:

• Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Busanan Ongbamrungphan (10-21, 11-21).

• Malvika Bansod lost to Sim Yu Jin (18-21, 19-21).

Men’s Doubles:

• Krishna Prasad Garaga/Sai Pratheek. K lost to Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang (14-21, 17-21)
• Hariharan Amsakarunan/Ruban Kumar lost to Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia (15-21, 14-21).

Women’s Doubles

• Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning (2-21, 11-21).
• Rutaparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda lost to Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng (8-21, 13-21).
• Ritika Thaker/Simran Singhi lost to Baek Ha-na/Lee So-hee (21-5, 21-7).

Mixed Doubles:

• Sathish Kumar Karunakaran/Aadya Variyath lost to Reginald Lee Chun Hei/Ng Tsz Yau (21-12, 21-13).

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