HS Prannoy continued his splendid run as he rallied to beat Lakshya Sen 22-24, 21-12, 21-18 while PV Sindhu suffered a 12-21, 21-10, 15-21 first round loss to Carolina Marin at the $125,000 Malaysia Open Super-1000 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
The fast-paced encounter between Prannoy and Lakshya lived up to its billing. The former's attacking prowess earned him an edge over Lakshya. In the pre-quarterfinals encounter, Prannoy will take on Malaysia Masters champion Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia. Sindhu looked rusty against Marin in the first game.
Though she found her rhythm in the second game and dominated the Spaniard, the Indian lost momentum in the third. Marin led from the start in the decider. She opened a 3-0 lead, went into the break at 11-7 and won the game at 21-15. Marin too returned after a 10-month break. She missed the Olympics due to injury.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty trounced the Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Hoo in doubles. The world No. 5 team will face Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian challenge ended in women's singles as Malvika Bansod suffered a 21-9, 21-13 hammering by second seed An Se Young of South Korea.
The women's doubles pair of Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat went down to Thailand's Puttita Supajirakul and Supissara Paewsampran 10-21, 12-21.
