Council Bluffs, Iowa: Indian badminton stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen began their US Open 2023 campaign on a strong note, comfortably winning their opening matches to progress to the second round at Council Bluffs. Sindhu triumphed over local player Disha Gupta, while Sen dispatched Finland’s Kalle Koljonen in their respective singles matches.
In the women’s singles event, PV Sindhu, currently ranked 12th in the BWF world badminton rankings, overcame a brief setback in the first game to defeat Disha Gupta with a scoreline of 21-15, 21-10. Sindhu initially found herself trailing by two points against the 136th-ranked Gupta but regained her composure after the mid-game interval, winning 12 of the next 16 points to secure a comfortable victory. The match lasted 27 minutes, and it was the first meeting between the two players. Sindhu is now set to face world No. 30 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei in the second round clash on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen, who recently clinched the Canada Open title, demonstrated his dominance on the court by defeating Finland’s Kalle Koljonen with a convincing score of 21-8, 21-16 in the men’s singles category. Sen, seeded third in the tournament, needed less than half an hour to secure the win. He will now face the Czech Republic’s Jan Louda in the next round.
Another Indian shuttler, Sankar Muthusamy, made an impressive run to the round of 16 after delivering a stunning performance against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen, the eighth seed, with a score of 21-11, 21-16. Muthusamy, who entered the main draw through the qualifiers, defied expectations by defeating Nguyen, who is ranked 32nd in the world, 48 places above the Indian player. Muthusamy’s next opponent in the BWF Super 300 tournament will be Israel’s Misha Zilberman.
However, B. Sai Praneeth’s US Open journey came to an end as he narrowly lost in a hard-fought battle against the Republic of China’s Li Shi Feng, the reigning All England champion. Praneeth put up a strong fight but ultimately fell short with a score of 21-16, 14-21 and 19-21.
In the women’s singles event, India’s Ruthvika Shivani Gadde faced disappointment after a defeat against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Hsiang Ti with a score of 14-21-11-21 in the first round.
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