H. S. Prannoy and Sathish Karunakaran registered stunning wins to reach the second round of the men’s singles at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament on Wednesday. However, double Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu bowed out in the first round.
Prannoy took the court first and upset fifth seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 19-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a hard-fought match lasting one hour and 22 minutes.
Karunakaran also caused an upset by defeating third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 21-14 in just 39 minutes.
It was a good day for India’s male shuttlers, with Ayush Shetty also progressing after beating Brian Yang of Canada 20-22, 21-10, 21-8.
Sindhu’s poor form continued as she failed to clear the opening round of the Super 500 tournament, losing 11-21, 21-14, 15-21 against Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam.
