PV Sindhu sails into second round of Malaysia Masters

Returning from the break, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu advanced to the second round of women’s singles with a straight match victory over Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour in the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. World number 15 Sindhu, who skipped the Uber Cup and the Thailand Open, cruised to a 21-17 21-16 victory over 22nd-ranked Gilmour in the opening round match that lasted 46 minutes. The fifth-seeded Indian, who last won a title at the 2022 Singapore Open, will next face Korea’s Sim Yu Jin.

Ashmita Chaliha also advanced to the second round of women’s singles with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over qualifier Sih Yun Lin of Chinese Taipei.

Ashmita will next face third seed Beiwen Zhang of the USA.

But it was curtains for Unnati Hooda and Aakasrshi Kashyap as they bowed out in the opening round of the women’s singles tournament.

While Hooda lost 13-21 18-21 against China’s Gao Fang Jie, Kashyap was defeated 22-24 13-21 by second-ranked Chinese Wang Zhi Yi.

In the men’s singles, Kiran George also fell in the opening round, losing 16-21, 17-21 to Japan’s Takuma Obayashi.

In mixed doubles, world number 53 B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy also advanced to the second round after defeating Hong Kong qualifiers Lui Chun Wai and Fu Chi Yan 21-15 12-21 21- 17, in 47 minutes.

The husband and wife duo will be tasked with taming top seeds Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia next.

The pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and K Sai Pratheek defeated the pair of Ming Che Lu and Tang Kai Wei from Chinese Taipei 23-21 21-11 to advance to the second round.

For Sindhu, it was her third victory over two-time Commonwealth Games medalist Gilmour.

Sindhu, 28, was quick to open up a 7-1 lead, but Gilmour managed to recover at 14-14, 15-15. The Indian, however, dashed her hopes of a challenge by taking six of the next eight points to win the first game.

After the change of sides, Sindhu was more ruthless as she did not allow her opponent to recover after once again taking an early 3-0 lead. Sindhu was 11-6 at the break and kept coming forward to gain eight match points. To her credit, Gilmour saved four match points before Sindhu closed out the match comfortably.

Sindhu, a former world champion, has suffered a string of narrow defeats since returning from a knee injury earlier this year. She is eyeing a good show here to boost her confidence ahead of the Paris Olympics.

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