HS Prannoy and Srikanth Kidambi registered wins at the Indonesian Open Super 100 tournament whereas youngster Piryanshu Rajawat gave a good account of himself despite bowing out of the tournament. The youngster dragged Anthony Ginting to his ultimate limit in a clash that lasted over an hour.
Priyanshu, who reached the opening round of the event after playing the qualifiers, won the first game but lost the next two to bow out of the tournament. The youngster has shown glimpses of his brilliance and has proven once again that his maiden title at Orleans earlier this year was not a fluke.
He lost 22-20, 15-21, 15-21 but left the fans in awe with his stunning gameplay. His game was so good that even the commentator Gillian Clark praised him for his spirited effort.
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy defeated Angus NG Ka Long of Hong Kong by 21-18, 21-16 in just 43 minutes to progress through to the quarterfinals. He will now face the third seed Kodai Naraoka from Japan in the quarterfinals.
Before these matches, Srikanth Kidambi won his second-round clash as he defeated compatriot Lakshya Sen 21-17, 22-20. The veteran shuttler has a 3-0 record over the youngster. It was a closer match than the scoreline suggests as both the Indians shuttlers fought hard but it was Srikanth who stood up in the tight situations and used his experience to good effect against Sen.
It took Srikanth 45 minutes to wrap up the match and progress to the next round. The former World No.1 will face China’s Li Shi Feng in the next round. Shi Feng defeated fourth seed Low Kean Yew. So it promises to be a very exciting battle for both the players.
However, amid the good news, PV Sindhu lost her match against Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 18-21, 16-21. Sindhu, who had made two opening-round exits in her last two events, did win the first match here in Indonesia but could not go any further. Sindhu has majorly struggled against Tai Tzu and that was once again the case for the World No.14. The Chinese Taipei shuttler owns a 19-5 head-to-head record against Sindhu.
Lastly, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the quarterfinals by beating China’s He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong in straight games. The men’s doubles pairing from India will now face the local duo of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Aridianto in the quarterfinals.
