India experienced a couple of setbacks in the Denmark Open on Wednesday. In the men’s singles Round of 32, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran lost a thrilling fight against Chinese Taipei’s SU Li Yang.
SU won the first set 21-15, but Sathish made it all square in the second set with a 21-17 result. The match was anybody’s game, but in the third and deciding set, SU piped Sathish 22-20 to seal the win.
The women’s doubles also saw India’s Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly crash out of the game. They were up against Malaysia’s Thinaah Muralitharan and Pearly Tan. While Gayatri and Teresa won the first game 21-19, they could not sustain the momentum. They lost the next two games 17-21, 15-21 to bow out in the Round of 32.
Indian shuttler PV Sindhu had earlier sailed into the second round of the competition after her Chinese Taipei opponent Pai Yu Po retired in the first round on Tuesday. Sindhu was in full command as she took the first set 21-8. In the second set, Sindhu was leading 13-7 when Pai Yu Po had to retire due to a knee injury.
The disappointments continued on Tuesday when Lakshya’s campaign at the Denmark Open-ended, as China’s Lu Guangzhou defeated him in the opening round. Lakshya had believed he was ready for a bigger fight, but he couldn’t sustain his strong start. He won the first set 21-12 with aggressive intent, only to see Lu stage a comeback to take the second set 21-19.
The third game saw Lakshya look like he was struggling to get back into rhythm, and with Lu winning 21-14 in the game, he sealed the victory. An early exit for Lakshya now comes after his disappointing Arctic Open campaign performance.
Similarly, in the women’s singles, Malvika Bansod bowed out of the competition. In the Round of 32, she lost to Nguyen Thuy Linh – 21-13, 21-12. Malvika had managed to reach the quarterfinals in the China Open earlier this year. But was unable to get past this round in the current event.
India’s shuttlers had a poor day at the Denmark Open as the country’s hopes got dashed pretty early in the competition.
ANI
