A valiant HS Prannoy rallied his way to a morale-boosting three-game win over China’s Lu Guang Zu as he and double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships on Wednesday.
World No. 9 Prannoy showed exemplary mental fortitude as he battled for 90 minutes before prevailing 17-21 23-21 23-21 over Lu, ranked 16th, to set up a second-round clash with Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi.
Sindhu, who is desperately seeking to rediscover her form ahead of the Paris Olympics, too survived some tense moments before overcoming world number 33 Goh Jin Wei from Malaysia 18-21 21-14 21-19 in a tough opening round match.
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Sindhu, who had lost to Jin Wei the last time they meet in Sudirman Cup but has a overall 4-1 record against her opponent, almost blew away a five-point advantage in the decider before managing to come up trumps.
Next up for Sindhu is China’s Han Yue, against whom the Indian has a flawless 5-0 record.
It was, however, a difficult day for Olympic-bound Lakshya Sen, who lost 19-21 15-21 to local favourite and top seed Shi Yu Qi, and Kidambi Srikanth, who suffered a 14-21 13-21 loss against Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting in the opening round.
Talented Priyanshu Rajawat also was no match for eight-seeded Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, losing 9-21 13-21 in 39 minutes.
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila too were left heartbroken after losing 21-23 21-19 24-26 against seventh seeded Chinese pair of Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand too went down 2-21 11-21 to fourth-seeded Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in the women’s doubles opener to dash their faint Paris Olympics qualification hopes.
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