Arctic Open 2023: PV Sindhu Eases Past Nozomi Okuhara To Reach Second Round; Akarshi Kashyap, Pratheek-Crasto Also Advance

Vantaa (Finland), October 11: Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu opened her Arctic Open 2023 with straight games win over Japan's Nozomi Okuhara at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland on Tuesday (October 10),

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, who finished without a medal at the Asian Games 2023 earlier this month, beat the Japanese shuttler 21-13, 21-6 in 33 minutes on Court 2. This result took the head to head results to 10-9 in favour of Sindhu.

Sindhu, who has suffered many early exits this year on the BWF Tour, was once again on the back foot at the start and trailed 4-0 after initial exchanges, but the eighth seed bounced back to lead the world No. 29 Okuhara 11-6 at the opening break.

The 28-year-old Sindhu continued the attacking display and took the opening game with ease, and her aggressive approach helped her dominate Okuhara in the second game as she raced to a 11-3 lead at the break and then sealed the match to make it to the round of 16.

One of the top Indian shuttlers at the Arctic Open 2023, Sindhu will next face Chinese Taipei's Wen Chi Hsu in the second round match on Thursday (October 12).

Apart from Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap also sealed a second round spot in In the women's singles category, , coming from a game down to defeat Lianne Tan of Belgium 18-21, 22-20, 21-18. Kashyap, ranked 41st, will face world No. 11 Wang Zhiyi of China in the round of 16.

While Sindhu and Kashyap progressed in women's singles, Malvika Bansod crashed out following straight games loss to Thailand's Supanida Katethong by a scoreline of 10-21, 5-21.

In men's singles, Harshit Agarwal failed to qualify for the main draw following a hard-fought straight games loss to Joakim Oldorff of Finland by a scoreline of 19-21, 12-21.

In the mixed doubles, the Indian duo of K Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto progressed to the main draw after they defeated Danish pair Andreas Sondergaard-Iben Bergstein in the qualifying round by a scoreline of 26-24, 21-18.

On Wednesday (October 11), more Indian shuttlers will be in action, including Kidambi Srikanth, who will be up against Max Weisskirchen of Germany in the first round. Kiran George and Mithun Manjunath will also be in opening round action.

Plus, Crasto will be featuring in both mixed doubles and women's doubles round of 32 matches alongside Pratheek and Ashwini Ponnappa, respectively.