Finance
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, had to work hard to win the first round of the Malaysia Masters, while compatriot Saina Nehwal was eliminated in the first round for the second time in a row on Wednesday. Sindhu took nearly an hour to defeat China’s He Bing Jiao 21-13 17-21 21-15 and advance to the second round. With this victory, world number seven Sindhu exacted revenge on Bing Jiao, who defeated her in straight games in the first round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 last month. The Chinese continue to lead the head-to-head 10-9.
Saina, who won bronze at the London Olympics, blew a one-game lead and lost 21-16, 17-21, 14-21 to Kim Ga Eun of South Korea. Last week, the world number 24 Indian also crashed out in the first round of the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament.
B Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the second round of the men’s singles with contrasting victories. While Praneeth breezed through his match against Kevin Cordon, winning 21-8 21-9 in less than 30 minutes, Kashyap overcame a one-game deficit to defeat local favorite Tommy Sugiarto 16-21 21-16 21-16. In the pre-quarterfinals, Praneeth will face Li Shi Feng.
Sameer Verma, on the other hand, went down fighting to fourth seed Chinese Taipei shuttler Chou Tien Chen 21-10 12-21 14-21. Later in the day, HS Prannoy will compete, as will the women’s doubles team of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa.
Source:HT
