NEW DELHI: Indian badminton star PV Sindhu made a winning start to her Indonesia Open campaign, overcoming a tough challenge from Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan to advance to the second round. However, it was a disappointing day for several other Indian shuttlers, including Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, who crashed out in their opening matches.Sindhu had to dig deep before securing a 25-23, 21-16 victory in a match that lasted 51 minutes. The two-time Olympic medallist was pushed hard in the first game but managed to hold her nerve in the crucial moments before carrying that momentum into the second game to wrap up the contest in straight games.The former world champion now appears set for a difficult second-round clash against reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 An Se-young. Sindhu has struggled against the South Korean star in the past and holds a 0-9 head-to-head record against her. The two also met recently in the Singapore Open quarterfinals, where An emerged victorious.While Sindhu progressed, the men’s singles campaign suffered major setbacks. Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth was beaten 19-21, 15-21 by Japan’s Yushi Tanaka. Lakshya Sen, who reached the Singapore Open quarterfinals last week, also bowed out after a 19-21, 16-21 loss to Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan.In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod was comfortably defeated 21-12, 21-10 by seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.There was some good news in doubles as Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun advanced to the second round with a convincing 21-18, 21-10 win over Malaysia’s Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong.However, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a straight-game defeat in women’s doubles, while mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also exited after losing to sixth-seeded Chinese opponents Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui.
