India's star singles player HS Prannoy did not have it easy, but ultimately prevailed in his opening-round clash against Belgium's Julien Carraggi at Singapore Open. The Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist won in three games 21-9, 18-21, 21-9 to march into the pre-quarterfinals of the BWF 750 event. (More Badminton News)
Prannoy was quick off the blocks, surging to an 11-7 lead at the interval in Game 1 and then winning 11 out of his last 13 points to take the lead in emphatic fashion. But Carraggi bounced back in the second game, claiming six points in a row♛ to go from 1-6 down to 7-6 up. The Belgian kept up the good work as Prannoy went off the boil a bit, and an 18-21 scoreline forced a decider.
But Prannoy returned on court to show that the second game was a mere aberration, winning Game 3 by a 21-9 margin, just like the firs🌠t game to enter the second round. He will next face Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the round of 16.
Earlier, India's women's singles spearhead PV Sindhu registered a dominant win against world no. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark to book a round of🌃 16 face-off with familiar adversary Carolina Marin. Sindhu won her opening round match 21-12, 22-20 to set up the tantalizing encounter against Rio Olympic champion Marin.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen fought valiantly against world number one Viktor Axelsen, but eventually came up short. The 22-year-old Indian took a game off his ♌numero uno opponent before losing 13-21, 21-16, 13-21 in the first round.
Kidambi Srikanth's round of 32 match ended in an unfortunate manner as he retired due to what seemed like a knee issue. Srikanth was trailing 14-21, 3-11 aga💜inst Japan's fifth seed Kodai Naraoka before he withdrew.
Elsewhere, India's mixed doubles pairing of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost 18-21, 19-21 to Malဣaysia's Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie, while Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan went down 8-21, 8-21 against Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch in another match.
