Saina crashes out of Malaysia Open; Sindhu, Srikanth advance

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), April 4: Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of Malaysia Open, while it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the World Tour Super 750 badminton tournament.

Olympic and World Championship silver medallist Sindhu staved off a spirited challenge from world No. 20 Aya Ohori 22-20, 21-12 to record her sixth win over the Japanese, while India Open finalist Srikanth beat Indonesia's Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 21-18, 21-16 in 38 minutes.

Fifth seed Sindhu will now look to avenge her All England loss against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, whom she faces next, while Srikanth will meet Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab on Thursday (April 4).

Eighth seed Saina, who came into the tournament after recovering from a pancreas infection, fought hard before going down 22-20, 15-21, 10-21 to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.

PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of the World Tour Super 750 tournament.https://t.co/5UOPlxZn9P

— The Quint (@TheQuint) April 3, 2019

Prannoy, who had reached the quarterfinals last week at New Delhi, bowed out after losing 12-21, 21-16, 14-21 to Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand.

The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who had entered the semifinals in India Open, also failed to cross the opening hurdle, going down 16-21, 6-21 to seventh seeds Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong of China.

(With Agency inputs)