Badminton Asia C'ships: Sindhu advances; Prannoy, Lakshya crash out in first round

• NINGBO (CHINA) — Two-time Olympic Games medallist PV Sindhu made a winning start in the Badminton Asia Championships 2025 with a 2-0 win over Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia in a first-round clash here on Wednesday.
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• Sindhu, who had lost to Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark in the first round of the Swiss Open in her last outing, won the match 21-15, 21-19 in a 44-minute encounter.
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• Ranked 17th in the BWF World Rankings, Sindhu took a 4-1 lead in the first game but the Indonesian player fought back to narrow it to 6-5. Sindhu won three points in a row but then Ester levelled scores at 9-9. From thereon, the 27-year-old Sindhu took control of the game and went on to win the game 21-15.
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• The second game was closer and the two players went neck-and-neck, swapping leads a couple of times before Sindhu opened a 15-12 lead. The Indonesian, ranked 36th in the World, fought back to narrow the gap to 17-18 and then caught up with the Indian star at 19-19. Sindhu, who won a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and followed that up with a bronze in Tokyo, won the next three points to seal victory.

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• Sindhu will next play third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the next round. Sindhu holds a 14-11 advantage in the head-to-head series over the Japanese shuttler.
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• Top stars Lakshya and H.S. Prannoy crashed out while Kiran George won his men's singles match as India continued to experience mixed fortunes on Day 2 of competitions here on Wednesday. Priyanshu Rajawa too advanced to the Round of 16 beating Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 20-22, 21-12, 21-10.
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• Lakshya was the biggest Indian star in action in singles play on Wednesday. He lost a close first game in an 18-21, 10-21 defeat to Lee Chai-Hao of Chinese Taipei in a first-round match in 35 minutes.
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• The first game was quite close and Lakshya made a good start, taking an 8-3 lead. Lee, however, fought back to level scores at 8-8 and then surged ahead 10-8. Lakshya eventually caught up with his rival at 16-16. However, the Chinese Taipei player could not be denied as he six points in a row to seal the first game. He opened a 6-2 lead in the second game before extending it to 15-5, eventually going on to win the game, winning eight consecutive points.
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• Prannoy lost to Lu Guang Zu of China 16-21, 21-12, 11-21 in one hour and 30 minutes in a Round of 32 clash.
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• Kiran George kept the Indian hopes in men's singles as he defeated Dmitry Panarin of Kazakhstan in straight games, winning 21-16, 21-8 in a Round of 32 clash. He will next face third seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the next round. The Thai player defeated Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia 21-0, 21-12 in the first round.
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• In women's singles, Aakarshi Kashyap, Malavika Bansod and Anupama Upadhyaya made their exits from the women's singles section leaving PV Sindhu as the only Indian female player remaining in the draw.
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• Akarshi lost 21-13,21-7 to second seed Yue Han of China while Malavika Bansod went down to Gao Fang Jie of China 14-21, 8-21. Anupama Upadhyaya also exited the tournament with a 13-21 14-21 defeat to former World Champion and eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
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• In men's doubles, India's Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K of India lost to Hsiang Chiah Chiu of Chinese Taiepi 19-21, 12-41 while Hariharan and Ruban Kumar defeated SriLanak's Madhuka Dulanjana and Lahiru Weebasinghe.
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• In mixed doubles, Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh of India defeated Thulith Palliyaguru and Panchali Adhikari 9-21,11-13. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde 21-18, 17-21, 17-21.