Thailand Open: Ashmita, Saina, George cruise to Second Round; Sindhu, Srikanth, Priyanshu, Sai Praneeth exit

BANGKOK: India’s Ashmita Chaliha notched up a straight-game win over her compatriot Malvika Bansod in their women’s singles match to progress to the second round at the Thailand Open at the Nimibutr Stadium, Bangkok, Wednesday.

She overcame Bansod’s challenge in straight sets 21-17, 21-14 and will face Olympic Champion Carolina Marina in the second round who beat Pitchamon Opatniput of Thailand 21-17, 21-13 in her first-round match.

In the other women’s singles match, Saina Nehwal registered a dominating win over Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang in straight sets. She beat Wen by 21-13, 21-7 and joints Chaliha in the second round.

In men’s singles, Kiran George also progressed in the second round with a 21-18, 22-20 win over Shi Yuki of China.

However, Kidambi Srikanth, the semifinalist at the Malaysia Masters last week, goes down against China’s Weng Hong Yang, the runner-up at the Kuala Lumpur event.

In a hard-fought match, Srikanth lost to the Chinese in three games with the score of 8-21, 21-16, 14-21.

The Indian made a brief comeback in the second game, winning it 21-16 after losing the first game 8-21, however, Weng kept his calm and brushed aside the Indian challenge in the third and final game.

B. Sai Praneeth also suffered a first-round defeat against Christo Popov of France. The Frenchman beat Praneeth in straight sets (14-21, 16-21).

Priyanshu Rajawat also made a first round exit, suffering a straight-game defeat to Ng Tze Yong in the first round.

Priyanshu, who won the Orleans Masters in April, went neck to neck against the experienced Malaysian. They were levelled at 18-18 in the first game before Tze Yong raced away to take the lead with a down-the-line smash.

In the second game, the world no. 39 Indian could not stand up to the challenge as Tze Yong won the game and the match 21-10.

Sameer Verma also faced loss against Magnus Johannesen 15-21, 15-21.

Lakshya Sen defeated Wang Tzu Wei in a three game thriller. Similarly, in men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also beat Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard of Denmark to enter the first round.

Mithun Manjunath will play Kunlavut Viditsarn. Agencies

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