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India’s Sindhu cruises into second round in Thailand
India’s Sindhu cruises into second round in Thailand
January 20, 2021 | 12:13 AM
India’s PV Sindhu cruised into the second round of the Thailand Open yesterday to erase the memory of her surprise first round exit a week earlier.The Rio Olympics silver medallist, was sheer class as she pummelled Thailand’s world number 12 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17, 21-13 in 42 minutes in Bangkok.“It was a good game and I’m very, very happy. This win was very important for me in this tournament because at last week’s tournament, I went out in the first round,” said sixth seed Sindhu.“So this win today was important, because even though in the first game it was tight, I didn’t want to make it easy.”Sindhu fell to Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in a shock a week ago in the first of back-to-back Thailand Opens.Former world number one Saina Nehwal suffered a first round loss to Thai fifth ranked Ratchanok Intanon after fizzling out in the second set 21-17, 21-8.The result is a blow to the Indian player, who is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.“I’ve played Newhal before and lost a few times and so I’ve learnt from those experiences. Newhal is one of the players I try to copy, she’s fast,” Intanon said.Top seed Tai Tzu-ying from Taiwan bounced back from her final defeat to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the first tournament on Sunday, to beat Thailand’s Supanida Katethong 21-16, 21-11.“I think I played OK today. I am feeling a little better than last week,” said Tai.In the men’s singles, Malaysian 10th seed Lee Zii Jia faced an unexpected defeat against India’s Sameer Verma in a marathon 74 minute thriller.Verma, ranked 31st in the world, hung on to claim the decider 18-21 27-25 21-19.“I think from the start I made a lot of mistakes, but luckily I overcame that to claim the first game. It was a tough game for me and the second game was a long one. In the final game, you can see Sameer led the whole way. I tried my best,” Lee said.Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth polished off Thailand’s 25th ranked Sitthikom Thammasin 21-11, 21-11.The Indian, now ranked 14th, was forced to pull out of last week’s tournament with a calf muscle strain. Thailand is hosting three consecutive badminton tournaments in Bangkok culminating in the World Tour Finals from January 27. The players have been facing off in a bio-secure bubble minus spectators, although the first tournament was overshadowed by three positive coronavirus cases.Indian shuttler B. Sai Praneeth has been withdrawn from the tournament after testing positive for Covid-19, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said yesterday.BWF said world number 13 Sai Praneeth returned a positive result on Monday and will be in hospital for at least 10 days.“Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm India player Sai Praneeth B. has tested positive for Covid-19 and has been withdrawn from the Thailand Open,” the BWF said in a statement.World number 14 Kidambi Srikanth has also withdrawn from the tournament and is in quarantine due to his close contact with Sai Praneeth, BWF said. Srikanth had returned a negative result on Monday.Last week, India’s Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy were initially withdrawn from the tournament following positive results but were later cleared to play after re-testing.The Thailand Open is the first tournament of the Asian leg of the BWF World Tour.
January 20, 2021 | 12:13 AM