Saina Nehwal was shocked by Malvika Bansod in the second round of India Open 2022 on Thursday as the former world No.1 lost in straight game to her compatriot. Ashmita Chaliha and PV Sindhu, on the other hand, eased into the third round of the tournament, that began on Tuesday and has seen many walkover due to Covid-19.
Saina, who has been dealing with injuries since her knee surgery post the Rio Olympics 2016, once again came up short when Malvika crushed her 21-17, 21-9 in only 34 minutes. Saina had survived a scare on Wednesday when her opponent retired after losing the first game 20-22. Malvika proved to be too strong and solid for the Commonwealth Games champion to fight.
Sindhu, on the contrary, had no trouble whatsoever against her compatriot Ira, who she dispatched 21-10, 21-10 in only 30 minutes. Ashmita, who upset the fifth seed in the first round, registered another good win when she beat French Yaelle Hoyaux 21-17, 21-14 in half an hour.
Sixth seed Sameer Verma retired after his Canadian opponent Brian Yang led 4-2 in the first game. Men’s doubles top seed Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan blitz through their second round as they beat Indian pair of Bhaskar Chakraborty and Kapil Chaudhary 21-17, 21-9 in merely 22 minutes.
Fifth seed and reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew also eased past Malaysian Soong Joo Ven 21-12, 21-12 in 33 minutes.
HS Prannoy received a walkover after his opponent Mithun Manjunath tested positive for coronavirus. Other players to have given walkover are Kidambi Srikanth, Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker, Khushi Gupta, Kavya Gupta, MR Arjun, Dhruv Kapila, Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand and Akshan Shetty. Seven players tested positive but their doubles partners were deemed close contacts and had to be withdrawn from the tournament as well.
In the other women’s singles pre-quarterfinals, third seed Jia Min Yeo of Singapore got the better of Anupama Upadhaya 13-21, 21-17, 21-12 while USA’s Lauren Lam defeated Tanya Hemanth 21-18, 21-11.
Lakshya Sen also moved to the quarter-finals after defeating Felix Burestedt of Sweden 21-12, 21-15. He will face HS Prannoy tomorrow.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Shyam Prasad and S.Sunjith 21-9, 21-18.
Other Major Results So Far:
XD – Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing[1] 21-6, 21-11 Siddharth Jakhar-Megha Morchana Bora
WS – Yeo Jin Min[3] 13-21, 21-7, 21-12 Anupama Upadhyaya
WS – Supanida Katethong[6] 21-7, 21-10 Polina Buhrova
XD – Chan Peng Soon-Valeree Siow[5] 21-6, 21-8 Kashish Sharma-Saruni Sharma
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