Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu moved to the next round with a comfortable win over Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po, at the 2024 Denmark Open, on Tuesday.
Apart from PV Sindhu, it was a rather disappointing day for the Indian contingent at Denmark, with every other fixture ending in defeat.
Sindhu started her match against Pai Yu Po dominantly and looked at her fluent best.
Pai, however, was not looking comfortable at all, her strapped-up knee caused her a lot of issues with mobility.
Sindhu did not mind that one bit, as she cruised to a 1-0 lead, winning the first game 21-8.
Midway through the second game, when Sindhu was leading 13-7, Pai Yu Po decided to call it quits and retired from the game, handing Sindhu the victory.
VICTOR Denmark Open 2024
WS – R32
21 13 🇮🇳PUSARLA V. Sindhu🏅
8 7 PAI Yu Po
🕚 in 26 minutes
— BWFScore (@BWFScore) October 15, 2024
A day of defeats for India
Earlier in the day, Lakshya Sen, fourth place at the Paris Olympics, suffered a first-round exit against China’s Lu Guang Zu 1-2 (21-12, 19-21, 14-21).
Despite winning the first game and having a sizeable lead in the second game, Lakshya Sen crumbled and lost the plot, losing the second game and then the decider as well, an issue that has become recurrent with Sen in the recent past.
In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod lost her match against Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam 0-2 (13-21, 12-21). Aakarshi Kashyap followed suit, losing to seventh-seeded Thai shuttler Supanida Katethong 0-2 (13-21, 12-21).
Women’s doubles pairing Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda lost a hard-fought match against Chinese Taipei duo Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun 0-2 (18-21, 22-24).