) India’s PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy began their campaigns by beating their rivals in the women’s and men’s singles badminton here on Tuesday.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wen Chi 21-10, 21-15 in the round of 32. It took her 42 minutes to trounce her opponent at the Binjiang Gymnasium.
The 28 years old Sindhu has been struggling with injuries since winning gold at the Commonwealth Games last year as she dropped to 15th in badminton rankings this season.
But today, she looked undaunted, moving nimbly around the badminton court and using her height to dictate Chi in the first game. Sindhu was 11-6 ahead of her rival at the break and hooked up the first game in 18 minutes.
The 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, Sindhu, fetched a three-point lead in the beginning of the second game, but Chi catapulted to 10-11 at the break with her drop shots.
The duo orchestrated long rallies post-interval, but Sindhu regained the lead and book Round-16 berth.
India’s top-ranked men’s singles player Prannoy easily defeated Mongolia’s world No.311 Batdavaa Munkhbat 21-9, 21-12 in 25 minutes.
