HS Prannoy and Tanvi Sharma crashed out of the Indonesia Masters after losing in the first round in Jakarta on Wednesday.
World Championships bronze medallist and world No. 35 HS Prannoy lost 21-19, 21-11 to Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in 35 minutes.
The first game proved to be a neck-and-neck affair with both players locked at 18-18. However, Lee Zii Jia won three of the next four points to take the lead.
The second game then proved to be one-way traffic with Lee Zii Jia dominating the contest from start to end. This was Prannoy’s second loss against Lee Zii Jia, also a former Asian champion, in four head-to-head meetings.
Later in the day, World No. 29 Ayush Shetty lost 21-8, 21-13 against 18th-ranked Alwi Farhan of Indonesia.
In women’s singles, rising star Tanvi Sharma and Malvika Bansod put up strong performances against higher-ranked opponents but fell short.
The 17-year-old Tanvi Sharma went down fighting against the World No. 9 Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan. She lost 21-18, 18-21, 16-21 in one hour and eight minutes.
After claiming the first game, World No. 40 Tanvi Sharma was in the hunt to clinch the next two. However, Tomoka Miyazaki won both games after the scores were level at 17-17 and 15-15, respectively.
Malvika stretched world No. 12 Michelle Li of Canada in the first game but eventually went down 23-21, 21-12.
Sindhu and Lakshya struggle
Earlier in the day, top guns PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen progressed to the second round with hard-fought wins. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu battled past Japan’s world No. 35 Manami Suizu 22-20, 21-18 in 53 minutes.
The 30-year-old Indian badminton player was put under pressure in both games but held her nerve at crucial junctures to secure her second win over Suizu in as many meetings.
Lakshya Sen, 12th in the men’s singles badminton rankings, registered a 21-13, 16-21, 21-14 win over world No. 23 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in his opening round match of the BWF Super 500 tournament. This was the Indian’s fourth win against Wang Tzu Wei in five meetings, with Sen’s only defeat coming way back in 2019.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth also progressed to the round of 16 with a 21-15, 21-23, 24-22 victory over Japan’s Koki Watanabe.
Kiran George, meanwhile, lost his men’s singles opener in straight games against Indonesia’s Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah 21-17, 21-14.
In the women’s singles, Akarshi Kashyap went down 21-8, 20-22, 17-21 against Denmark’s Julie Jakobsen. Anmol Kharb, meanwhile, progressed after defeating Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-17. She will take on Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the second round.
India’s mixed doubles pairs, Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto and Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, also lost their opening round matches.
