PV Sindhu advances in second round of Badminton Asia Championships; Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy crash out

Sindhu, 17th in the women's singles badminton rankings, picked up a straightforward 21-15, 21-19 win against world No. 36 Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia in a match that lasted 44 minutes, as per the Olympics.com.

Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen was knocked out in the first round after a straight-games defeat against world No. 14 Lee Chia-hao of Chinese Taipei.

The opening game was a hard-fought affair. Lakshya Sen went toe-to-toe with Lee Chia-hao, with the score reading 18-18 at one stage, before the Chinese Taipei shuttler picked up three successive points to win the opener.

The second game was a bit more lop-sided as Lakshya Sen struggled to keep pace with Lee Chia-hao and lost the match 21-18, 21-10. This was Lakshya's second defeat against Lee Chia-hao in as many matches.

In the other men's singles matches, HS Prannoy put up a fight but couldn't avoid defeat against China's Lu Guangzu.

HS Prannoy, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was beaten 21-16, 12-21, 21-11 for his fourth first-round exit in six tournaments this year.

Kiran George, on the other hand, progressed to the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships after a comfortable 21-16, 21-8 win against Dmitriy Panarin of Kazakhstan.

Priyanshu Rajawat also advanced after a 20-22, 21-12, 21-10 comeback win over Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen.

Meanwhile, world No. 49 Aakarshi Kashyap suffered a 21-13, 21-7 defeat against China's Han Yue, third in the women's singles badminton rankings, in a match that lasted 31 minutes.

Anupama Upadhyaya was also beaten 21-13, 21-14 by former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.

Malvika Bansod, 22nd in the women's singles rankings, lost against world No. 15 Gao Fang Jie. Bansod was beaten 21-14, 21-8 by the Asian Games silver medallist from China.

In the men's doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi moved into the next round of the Badminton Asia Championships after a 21-3, 21-12 win over Sri Lanka's Madhuka Dulanjana and Lahiru Weerasinghe.

However, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K were knocked out in the opening round after a 21-19, 21-12 loss against Chinese Taipei's Chiu Hsiang-chieh and Wang Chi-lin.

Elsewhere, India's challenge in the women's doubles section ended after Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were ousted by Chinese Taipei's Sung Shuo-yun and Yu Chien-Hui following a 21-11, 21-13 defeat. (ANI)