Swiss Open 2022: Chirag, Satwik stun All England champions; Winning start for Sindhu, Saina, Srikanth, Kashyap

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy staged a comeback win.

Bengaluru, March 24: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal all made a winning start in the singles competition while Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy stunned past All England champions Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana at the Swiss Open Badminton Championships in Basel on Wednesday (March 23).

Second-seeded Sindhu beat Denmark's Line Kjaersfeldt 21-14, 21-12 in a 37-minute opening-round encounter, Srikanth defeated another Dane -- Mads Christophersen -- 21-16, 21-17 in a match lasting 32 minutes and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina outplayed Yaelle Hoyaux 21-8, 21-13.

Later, Chiarg and Satwik hogged the limelight after the doubles pair fought back after losing the first game to battle past the Indonesian pair 17-21, 21-11, 21-18.

Meanwhile, in the men's singles, Parupalli Kashyap too cruised to a 21-17, 21-9 win over France's Enogat Roy to enter the second round.

In the women's singles, Ashmita Chaliha scripted a come-from behind win over France's LéOnice Huet, prevailing 19-21, 21-10, 21-11.

The mixed doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy lost their first round match and so did the women's doubles combine of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (who had reached the All England Open semifinals last week).

Earlier, the Chinese badminton team pulled out of the Super 300 tournament due to multiple coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and injuries to several of its players.

The Swiss Open 2022 which started with qualifying and first rounds on March 22 will conclude with the final round on Sunday (March 27).

A total of 108 singles players and 108 doubles teams from across the globe, including the reigning men's and women's singles Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen and Chen Yufei are taking part in the event.

The Swiss Open 2022 matches are streamed on the BWF YouTube Channel.

Previous winners from Indian include Saina (2011 and 2012), Srikanth (2015), HS Prannoy (2016) and Sameer Verma (2018).