In Badminton, P.V. Sindhu opened her China Open Super 1000 campaign with a hard-fought win over Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki, while fellow Indians Unnati Hooda and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced with strong performances at Changzhou, China today. Sindhu, a former world champion, prevailed 21-15, 8-21, 21-17 over the 2022 world junior champion Miyazaki in a hard-fought 62-minute match. She will next face fellow Indian Unnati Hooda, the 17-year-old winner of the 2022 Odisha Masters and 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters. Hooda stunned Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, a two-time Commonwealth Games medalist, 21-11, 21-16 in a 36-minute contest. In men’s doubles, the world No. 15 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made a strong start, defeating Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura 21-13, 21-9 in just 31 minutes. The Asian Games champions will next face the eighth-seeded Indonesian duo of Leo Rolly Carnando and Bagas Maulana. In women’s doubles, it was disappointment for Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda, who lost 12-21, 13-21 to Hong Kong’s Nga Ting Yeung and Pui Lam Yeung in 31 minutes.
