Top India shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth made impressive starts to their respective singles campaign, progressing to the pre-quarter finals with straight-game wins over their respective opponents at the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, trounced Lauren Lam of the US 21-15, 21-14 while Srikanth saw off Malaysia’s world No. 35 Daren Liew 22-20, 21-11 at the Palma Stadium.
Sindhu, seeded third, who had claimed the Swiss Open title recently, will next meet Japan’s Aya Ohori, while World Championships silver medallist Srikanth, seeded fifth, will be up against Israel’s Misha Zilberman.
Men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also progressed to the second round. While Satwik and Chirag got the better of Korea’s Tae Yang Shin and Wang Chan 21-16, 21-15, Arjun and Dhruv got a walkover from Korea’s Ba Da Kim and Hee Young Park.
Satwik and Chirag will take on Singapore’s Hee Yong Kai Terry and Loh Kean Hean, while Arjun and Dhruv face second-seeded Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan next.
Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli, however, bowed out after losing 5-21, 13-21 to second-seeded Korean An Seyoung in a women’s singles match.
