Sindhu crashes out of Arctic Open; Aakarshi, Malvika, Kiran George advance

PV Sindhu. Pic/AFP

PV Sindhu's first outing at the international stage since the Paris Olympics ended in heartbreak as the two-time medallist crashed out of the Arctic Open 2024 BWF Super 500 badminton tournament on Tuesday. Other women players, Aakarshi Kashyap and Malavika Bansod advanced to the Round of 16.

Sindhu was stunned by Canada's Michelle Li in a first-round clash. The Indian shuttler had defeated Michelle Li in the final of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to win the gold medal. The Canadian player had her revenge on Tuesday as she got the better of the Indian who could not get into her rhythm.

Sindhu had strengthened her coaching staff before this event by including Anup Sridhar and Lee Hyun Il of Korea in her team. But she had to face disappointment in her first competitive match.

Former World No.2 Sindhu, who has slipped to No.15 in BWF Rankings,16 struggled from the start and ended up losing to Li, 32nd in the latest women's singles badminton rankings, 21-16, 21-10 in just 37 minutes.

As Sindhu, who has recently parted ways with her Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso after suffering a round of 16 exit from the Paris Olympics, was playing her first international match, she made a substantial number of unforced errors that didn't help her cause. Li, who only picked up her fourth win over Sindhu in 14 meetings, will face the winner of the match between India's Unnati Hooda and Brazil's Juliana Viana Vieira, in the round of 16.

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Aakarshi Kashyap, meanwhile, progressed to the round of 16 after defeating Germany's Yvonne Li 21-19, 21-14 in a 45-minute-long encounter.

Malvika Bansod joined Kashyap in the next round after she upset world No. 23 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 24-22. The Indian player, who recently made the quarterfinals of the China Masters Super 1000, is ranked 37th in the world.

Among the other Indian badminton players in action at Finland on the day, Kiran George defeated French shuttler Lucas Calarebout 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 in his qualifying round clash to advance to the men's singles main draw. Sathish Kumar Karunakaran's campaign in men's singles concluded in the qualifiers following a 21-6, 21-13 loss to Arnaud Merkle of France.

India's Lakshya Sen will return to the court for the first time since making the semi-finals at Paris 2024 on Wednesday. He will face Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in the first round of men's singles.

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