China Masters: Happy outing for India as Lakshya, Sindhu, Malvika enter second round

Indian shuttlers had a wonderful outing at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament here on Wednesday, with PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen progressing to the second round  in the singles events.

In-form Malvika Bansod, ranked 36th in the world, added more joy to the Indian contingent by registering an upset win against Denmark’s world No. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 20-22, 23-21, 21-16, PTI reported.

World No. 19 Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, dispatched the higher-ranked Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17, 21-19 in 50 minutes, notching up her 20th win in 21 meetings with the Thai shuttler.

The 29-year-old from Hyderabad will next face Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min, while Malvika will meet eighth-seeded Supanida Katethong.

Lakshya, meanwhile, avenged his Olympic bronze medal loss with a 21-14, 13-21, 21-13 win over seventh seed Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in 57 minutes. Lakshya will next face either Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke or Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto.

The victory was a balm for Lakshya, who had lost to Lee in the Paris Olympics bronze medal match from an advantageous position.

In their first meeting since that defeat, Lakshya played with vengeance, surging to an 11-4 lead in the opening game before sealing it.

Lee bounced back in the second game, racing to a 7-1 lead before extending it to 17-8 to level the contest.

In the decider, Lakshya took a 5-1 lead, but Lee fought back to level at 5-5. However, Lakshya held firm, taking an 11-8 lead at the break with a precise smash. He then moved to 14-10 with two diagonal shots before reaching 18-11 with a cross-court smash.

The Indian held his nerves and wrapped up the match after Lee hit wide.

Both shuttlers started off the match on an even keel with Busanan taking a 14-10 lead thanks to two unforced errors by the Indian.

However, Sindhu went on a roll, winning the next nine points to take a 19-14 lead before closing the first game in her favour.

But the loss in the first game didn't deter Busanan as she started the second game strongly. Although Sindhu trailed for most part of the second game, she continued to chip away at the points deficit with her aggressive play to take the lead for the first time in the game at 18-17. The star Indian shuttler then sealed the match.