Malaysia Masters proved to be a difficult outing for India on Wednesday, with several top names crashing out early. However, the performances of Malvika Bansod, Ashmita Chaliha and Devika Sihag offered some encouragement as the trio advanced to the second round of the women’s singles competition.
Malvika produced one of the standout performances of the day, battling past Germany’s Yvonne Li in a hard-fought three-game encounter. Returning to competitive action after recovering from an ACL injury that required surgery, the Indian showed resilience and composure to register a 21-17, 16-21, 21-9 victory.
The win marked another positive step in Malvika’s comeback journey, as she dominated the decider after splitting the opening two games. She will now face Denmark’s eighth seed Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt in the next round.
Ashmita Chaliha, meanwhile, progressed comfortably with a straight-games victory over Indonesia’s Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan. The Indian controlled the match throughout to seal a 21-16, 21-13 win and set up a clash against Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei.
Devika Sihag also displayed fighting spirit after dropping the opening game against South Korea’s Park Ga Eun. The Indian recovered strongly to win 19-21, 21-18, 21-19 in a closely contested battle and book a second-round meeting with top seed Chen Yu Fei of China.
India’s only other success of the day came in mixed doubles, where Radhika Sharma and Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram rallied from a game down to defeat Scotland’s Julie Macpherson and Alexander Dunn 16-21, 21-14, 21-18. The pair will next face Americans Presley Smith and Jennie Gai.
Despite those victories, it was largely a disappointing day for the Indian contingent.
In men’s singles, eighth seed Lakshya Sen suffered a shock defeat against Indonesia’s Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah, losing 17-21, 11-21. HS Prannoy also exited after an exhausting 80-minute battle against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, eventually going down 17-21, 22-20, 22-24.
Kiran George retired during his match against France’s Alex Lanier, while Tharun Mannepalli squandered a one-game lead before losing to Chinese Taipei’s Wang Po-Wei.
India’s struggles extended across other categories as well. Anmol Kharb, Tanvi Sharma, Tanya Hemanth and Isharani Baruah all exited women’s singles after competitive defeats, while Indian pairs in mixed and women’s doubles also failed to progress beyond the opening round.
Although the overall results painted a disappointing picture, the determined performances of Malvika, Ashmita and Devika ensured India still had reasons for optimism heading into the later stages of the tournament.
