Two Indian women’s badminton legends, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal faced opposite fates in the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, with the former progressing to the second round and the latter crashing out after losing their opener on Wednesday.
If former world champion Sindhu put on an excellent show to beat world number 10 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-13, 21-17, London Olympics bronze medalist Saina 11-21 overcame world 33 ranked American Iris Wang 11-21. She was lost from 17-21 in 37 minutes.
Seventh-seeded Sindhu clashed with Thailand’s 21-year-old Fittayaporn Chaiwan, who secured the number one ranking in the world junior rankings and was also part of the bronze medal-winning team at the Uber Cup in Bangkok.
B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, leading India in the Commonwealth Games, also could not get ahead of the world number 21 pair of Robin Labelling and Selena Peake of the Netherlands. The Indian team lost 15-21 21-19 17-21 after a 52-minute flight.
