Sindhu, Kashyap advance to Round 2 of Malaysia Masters 2022

It was a positive start in the singles discipline for the Indian contingent.

It has been a bright start for the Indians in Round 1 of the Malaysia Masters Super 500. The shuttlers who were expected to win their games did. However, there was no one from the Indian camp punching above their weight.

Aces P.V. Sindhu, H.S. Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap and Sai Praneeth came out in flying colours in Round 1 of the tournament while Saina Nehwal and Sameer Verma were knocked out early. Despite some spectacular performances in the singles disciplines, the doubles discipline saw the end of Indian contention.

Let’s have a look at the Round 1 results of the Malaysia Masters.

PV Sindhu defeated He Bing Jao, Saina Nehwal falters once again

Two-time Olympic medalist P.V. Sindhu made a positive start to her Super 500 event campaign. World No. 7 defeated He Bing Jiao of China. The Indian had to go through a tiring encounter of three games to book a second-round appearance. Sindhu took an early 15-5 lead in the first game and gave no chance to her opponent to close the game 21-13.

In the second game, it was He Bing Jiao who gained the momentum and made the lanky Indian move for points. After trailing at the mid-game interval at 7-11, Sindhu closed down the deficit at 13-13. However, some beautiful net play by the Chinese shuttler took the game away from Sindhu as she lost 17-21. The third game saw both the shuttlers making desperate attempts to construct an early lead. The shuttler from Hyderabad dictated the pace of the game, thereby leading 15-8. In the end, Sindhu managed to ease past Bing Jao 21-13, 17-21, 21-15.

Later in the day, former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal saw another first round defeat against Kim Ga Eun of Korea. The Indian lost the game 21-16, 17-21, 14-21.

World No.1 Akane Yamaguchi also ousted Canada’s Michelle Li in two straight games 21-15, 21-13. Olympic silver medalist and second seed Tai Tzu Ying had an easy run against Korean youngster Sim Yujin, winning in straight games 21-11, 21-8.

H.S Prannoy, Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap register wins

Earlier, Indian men’s singles shuttlers H.S Prannoy and Sai Praneeth had a brightening start to their run. The former defeated Brice Leverdez of France in straight games 21-19, 21-14. Sai Praneeth, on the other hand, gave no chance to the Guatemalan opponent Kevin Cordon and won the match 21-8, 21-9.

Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap had to fight a touch battle against Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in three games. The experienced maestro made a great comeback in the deciding game to win the match 16-21, 21-16, 21-16. Meanwhile, World No. 29 Sameer Verma went down fighting against higher-seed Chou Tien Chen as went down 21-10, 12-21, 14-21.

World No. 2 Kento Momota also made a great start against his compatriot Koki Watanabe. The two-time former World Champion took only two games to sail into the second round 21-18, 21-13.

No luck in doubles

The Indian doubles players had a disappointing day at the office as their challenge ended on the very first day. Since there were no Indian participants in the Men’s doubles and Mixed doubles disciplines, the onus was on the women doubles pairs to bring success.

However, none of the four contesting teams was able to make it to the second round. This included the experienced pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy and the young guns Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand.

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