PV Sindhu of India advanced to the second round of the women’s singles event, with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also making a successful comeback at the China Masters 2024 badminton tournament on Wednesday.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist ranked 19th in the world in badminton, easily defeated Thailand’s world No. 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan with scores of 21-17 and 21-19.
Satwik-Chirag, in their first competitive game post-Paris 2024 Olympics, staged a comeback to defeat Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan from Chinese Taipei with scores of 12-21, 21-19, 21-18.
Sindhu managed to come back from being four points behind in both games, increasing her head-to-head record against Ongbamrungphan to 20-1.
Sindhu has now accomplished the impressive feat of achieving two consecutive 10-match winning streaks against Busanan. Even though she has faced 19 losses before, this defeat is expected to hurt Busanan the most.
Busanan was ahead in both games but didn’t take advantage. At the start, she was leading 14-10 but then Sindhu went on a nine-point streak to win the game 21-17. In the second game, Busanan was ahead at 10-6 and 13-9, but Sindhu made a comeback from being behind at 15-17 and finished strongly. After the match, the players shared smiles by the net, but their true emotions were completely opposite.
Sindhu progresses to meet Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min in the round of 16.
Malvika Bansod continues to impress
Malvika Bansod defeated Line Kjaersfeldt from Denmark in a tough match lasting one hour and 14 minutes, with a score of 20-22, 23-21, 21-16.
Bansod’s next opponent will be Supanida Katethong from Thailand. Following this, Lakshya Sen will compete along with the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and the women’s doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand.
In her first round match, Malvika Bansod, who is ranked 36th in the world, defeated Line Kjaersfeldt from Denmark, who is 15 spots above her, with scores of 20-22, 23-21, 21-16.
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Lakshya too starts with win
Lakshya Sen also had to work hard to defeat Malaysian world No. 7 and seventh seed Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 13-21, 21-13 in order to advance to the next round of the men’s singles event.
The Indian badminton player, who is presently ranked 17th globally, was defeated by Jia in their previous encounter during the Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medal match. Sen is up against Rasmus Gemke from Denmark in the upcoming match.
