Credit: Twitter
The 21-year-old Indian badminton player, Priyanshu Rajawat, who was part of the India team that won the 2022 Thomas Cup, defeated World No. 15 Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the opening round on Tuesday. However, India's top-ranked players PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were caught up in a tough first-round fixture and were eliminated from the Singapore Open Super 750.
Apart from young Priyanshu, Kidambi Srikanth also advanced to the second round after defeating Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-15, 21-19, and will next face Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei, who was promoted to the main draw from the reserves in Viktor Axelsen's absence.
Priyanshu defeated Tsuneyama in straight games 21-12, 21-15 on Tuesday in men's singles. The 2023 Orleans Masters champion will next face third seed Japan's Kodai Naraoka, who beat Priyanshu's compatriot Prannoy in the opening round, in the Round of 16 of the Singapore Open 2023. In women's singles, India shuttles PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, and Aakarshi Kashyap lost their opening rounds.
Despite winning the first set, defending champion Sindhu lost against world number 1 Akane Yamaguchi by 21-18, 19-21, 17-21. On the other hand, Saina Nehwal lost 13-21, 15-21 to seventh seed Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon while Aakarshi Kashyap was knocked out by Supanida Katethong of Thailand by 21-17, 21-9 in their respective opening matches.
While Indian badminton ace HS Prannoy was also eliminated in the first round after losing to the fifth seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan by 18-21, 21-17, 21-13, India's doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila won their opener against 21-16 21-15 win over France's Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar. The Indian pair will next face the English pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the second round.