Malaysia Open 2023: Prannoy ousts Lakshya Sen; Satwik-Chirag pair progress, but Sindhu bows out

Kuala Lumpur, January 11: In the battle of Indians, HS Prannoy got the better of Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Lakshya Sen in the opening round of the Malaysia Open 2023 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Wednesday (January 11).

Prannoy came from a game down to oust his compatriot and seventh-seeded Sen after 22-24, 21-12, 21-18 victory in the first round of the men's singles match that lasted an hour and one minute.

Playing on Court 4, the two Indians fought hard against each other in the opening game with Sen taking the honours 24-22. In the second game, Prannoy had it a little easy as he claimed the game 21-12 to force the decider.

The third and deciding game, however, was once again closely fought with the Prannoy winning 21-18. The 30-year-old India will next face Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the second round on Thursday (January 12).

Also winning on the day were, India's top doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who defeated Korean duo Choi Sol-gyu and Kim Won-ho in straight games 21-16, 21-13 in the first round match that lasted for 44 minutes.

The seventh-seeded Indian pair will next face Indonesian pair Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana in the second round on Thursday (January 12).

Prannoy and Satwik-Chirag pair join the women's doubles pair of Trees Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand as Indian shuttlers that progressed to the next round of the Malaysia Open Super Series 1000 tournament.

Jolly-Gopichand duo will meet the Bulgarian Stoeva siblings Stefani and Gabriela in the women's doubles second round match which is also set to take place on Thursday.

While the five shuttlers progressed to the second, as many as six singles shuttlers and two doubles pair crashed out in the opening round of the first badminton tournament of 2023.

On Wednesday (January 11), Two-time Olympic medallist and sixth-seeded PV Sindhu, who returned to action for the first time since CWG, suffered a defeat to Carolina Marin in the battle of the former World Champions.

Sindhu fought back from a game down, but went down to the Spaniard 12-21, 21-10, 15-21 in the women's singles first round match that lasted for almost an hour.

Malvika Bansod, meanwhile, crashed out following a straight games 9-21, 13-21 defeat to second-seeded Korean An Se-young in the match that went on for just 31 minutes.

Also on day 2, women's doubles pair of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam bowed out after a 10-21, 12-21 straight games loss to Thailand pair Supissara Paewsampran and Puttita Supajirakul.

Earlier on Tuesday (January 10), Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi were among the Indian shuttlers that crashed out in the first round.