India’s leading shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal notched contrasting victories to enter the second round, but Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock defeat in the Asia Badminton Championships in Wuhan, China, on Wednesday.
Olympic and World championships silver-medallist Sindhu eased past Takahashi Sayaka of Japan 21-14, 21-7 in just 28 minutes. The fourth-seeded Indian will take on Choirunnisa of Indonesia.
World No. 9 Saina, seeded seventh, had to work hard to get the better of China's Han Yue 12-21, 21-11, 21-17. The London Olympics bronze-medallist will next square off against Kim Ga Eun of South Korea.
In the men's singles, fifth seed Srikanth lost to Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 16-21, 20-22 in 44 minutes. This was the Indian Open finalist's second meeting with Rhustavito.
The two last met at the BWF World Junior Championships in 2011, where too the Indonesian defeated Srikanth 11-21, 21-13, 21-16.
Sameer Verma needed 67 minutes for a 21-13, 17-21, 21-18 victory over Sakai Kazumasa of Japan.
The world No. 15 Indian will next face Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus.
It was end of the road for the men's doubles pair of M R Arjun and Ramchandran Shlok, who went down 18-21, 15-21 to the Chinese duo of He Jiting and Tan Qiang.
In the women's doubles, India's campaign ended as all three pairs lost their matches.
Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram lost 21-13, 21-16 to the Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai; Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh went down 21-13, 12-21, 21-12 to the Sri Lankan duo of Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa and Kavidi Sirimannage.
Aparna Balan-Sruthi K were ousted after a 12-21, 10-21 defeat in just 25 minutes to the unseeded Singaporean pairing of Jin Yujia and Sugiarto and Barkah Yulfira.
Bhaker, Sidhu fail to make final at ISSF World Cup
India’s teen sensation Manu Bhaker and the seasoned Heena Sidhu failed to make the final in the 10 metres air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup, in Beijing, on Wednesday.
In the qualification round, Manu shot 575 to end up in 17th spot while Heena shot 572 to finish at the 26th. Korea's Kim Minjung won gold in the event with a score of 245 in the final on Day 2 of the competition.
In the men's 3P event, Chain Singh's qualifying round effort of 1165 got him 27th place while Parul Kumar shot 1164 for the 33rd position. Senior marksman Sanjeev Rajput was languishing at 58th with a score of 1145.
Talented Czech shooter Philip Nepejchal downed Russian rifle ace Sergey Kamenskiy in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) final to claim the gold.
In the two medal events of the day, Yashaswani Singh Deswal's 10th place finish in the women's 10m Air Pistol was the best Indian performance. She shot a score of 577 while the 578 was the last qualifying score.
Sathiyan lone Indian survivor at World TT
G Sathiyan was the lone survivor at the 2019 ITTF World Championships in Budapest. The Indian edged past Christian Pletea of Romania 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 in a round of 64 match.
The world No. 28 will meet Hugo Calderano of Brazil, ranked No. 7, in the round of 32 later on Wednesday.
Sathiyan, who beat Belgian Robin Devos in the first round 4-0, had little difficulty against Pletea, ranked 131, winning in 35 minutes.
Leading 2-0, he lost the third game as the Romanian won six consecutive points to cause a minor ripple, but the Indian was up to the task, winning the next two games.
Sharath Kamal was woefully out of sorts against Tomislav Pucar of Croatia, going down 9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11 in the round of 64.
The Indian, ranked No. 36, failed to come to grips against the world No. 58, who had better control over the match. Sharath registered a 4-0 win over Uzbek's Zokhid Kenjaev in the first round.
Manav Thakkar, who made the main draw cut, failed to go past Austrian Robert Gardos despite a very good fight. The young Indian paddler lost 13-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 2-11, 10-12, 6-11 in the round of 128.
Both Manika Batra and Suthirta Mukherjee ended their World Championships campaign, bowing out in round of 64 on Tuesday night.
Taipei's Szu-Yu Chen beat Manika 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9. The world No. 24 needed mere 34 minutes against the world No. 56 Indian.
In contrast, Suthirta managed to take two games of her opponent before losing to Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11.
Earlier Tuesday evening, the Japanese duo of Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato defeated Manika Batra and Archana Kamath 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 in the women doubles round of 32.
In Day 4 action, Sathiyan and Archana failed to cope with the higher-ranked Lee Sangsu and Jihee Jion in the mixed doubles. The Korean pair moved into the quarter-finals, winning 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8.
