Still basking in the glory of Thomas Cup triumph, India's star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth is on a roll as he stormed into the second round of the Thailand Open by defeating France's Brice Leverdez in a tight contest on Wednesday (May 18).
Srikanth, seeded eighth in the BWF Super 500 tournament, won the first round match 18-21, 21-10, 21-16 in 49 minutes. He next faces qualifier Nhat Nguyen of Ireland, who defeated Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark 21-12, 23-21 in the first round.
The Indian men's team, led by Srikanth, had beaten powerhouse and 14-time champions Indonesia in the final to win the country's maiden Thomas Cup title on Sunday.
However, in the women's singles, Indian qualifier Ashmita Chaliha lost to seventh seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Thaliand 10-21, 15-21 in a first round match that lasted 29 minutes.
Compatriot and another qualifier, Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Michelle Li of Canada 13-21, 18-21 to bow out of the tournament in the first round.
The mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also suffered a first round exit, losing to the eighth-seeded Japanese duo of Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo 17-21, 17-21 in 34 minutes.
India’s men’s doubles duo MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila bowed out in the first round of Thailand Open on Tuesday. The Indian pair who were part of the Thomas Cup Final lost 12-21, 21-19, 19-21 against Chinese Taipei duo Lee Jhe Huei and Yang Po Hsuan. India’s day off on a poor note as Men’s doubles duo of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy face straight set defeat. Women’s pair of Haritha and Ashna Roy too bowed out in the first round.
Meanwhile, Indian shuttlers Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod entered the women’s singles main draw at the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament, both the players will play their first round contest in the main draw on Wednesday.
Bansod, 57th in the badminton world rankings, defeated compatriot Anupama Upadhyaya 21-18, 21-8 in just under half an hour at the Impact Arena. The 20-year old Bansod will face world No 59 Marija Ulitina of Ukraine in the first round on Wednesday.
On the other hand, Ashmita, a member of the Indian team which made the Uber Cup 2022 quarter-finals last week, overcame the US’s Jennie Gai 21-16, 21-18 in 27 minutes. The world No 65 shuttler will face a stiff challenge against world No 8 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the main round of the BWF Super 500 event.
Other top Indian shuttlers like PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy, who was also a member of the historic Thomas Cup title winning team, will be in action later in the day.
