Odense: India’s PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen suffered first round exits at the Denmark Open, while Kidambi Srikanth and Tanvi Sharma progressed to the next round with impressive victories in their respective singles events on Tuesday.
Two time Olympic medallist Sindhu suffered a heartbreaking 21-13, 23-25, 19-21 defeat against Germany’s Yvonne Li in a match lasting one hour and five minutes at the SJF Bank Arena. Sindhu started strongly to take the opening game but could not maintain her advantage as Li fought back to secure victory in a closely contested encounter.
The former world champion entered the tournament after a mixed run of results. She won the Japan Open Super 750 title in July before reaching the quarterfinals of the Arctic Open last week, where she lost to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in three games.
Lakshya Sen also bowed out in the opening round after losing 18-21, 21-13, 15-21 to third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. The match lasted one hour and three minutes, with Sen recovering to win the second game before his opponent regained control in the decider.
Srikanth provided a boost for the Indian contingent with a 22-20, 21-19 victory over France’s Arnaud Merkle in a closely fought men’s singles encounter lasting 46 minutes. The Indian will next face seventh seed Alex Lanier of France in the pre quarterfinals of the USD 950,000 Super 750 tournament. Srikanth will hope to draw inspiration from his previous success at the Denmark Open, where he lifted the title in 2017.
Tanvi Sharma also advanced after overcoming Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira 21-17, 16-21, 21-19 in a demanding women’s singles contest lasting one hour and 12 minutes. Tanvi secured the deciding game under pressure to keep her campaign alive.
She will next face Germany’s Yvonne Li, who eliminated Sindhu, setting up another important test for the young Indian shuttler as she looks to progress further in the prestigious tournament.
Sorry, there was a YouTube error.
