Denmark Open 2024: Sindhu through to second round; Treesa-Gayatri, Sumeeth-Sikki exit

Indian shuttlers endured a poor start after the country’s challenge ended in both women’s and mixed doubles competitions of the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament, here on Wednesday.

Both the Indian pairs in action – Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand (women’s doubles) and B Sumeeth Reddy/N Sikki Reddy (mixed doubles)-suffered heartbreak three-game defeats in their opening contests.

Taking the court first, Treesa and Gayatri squandered a game lead to go down 21-19, 17-21, 15-21 against fifth seed Malaysia combination of Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah in women’s doubles opening round match that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.

The odds were always against the world no.21 Indian duo as it enjoyed an inferior 1-5 head-to-head record against world no.7 opponents from Malaysia. But, Treesa and Gayatri gave their rivals a tough fight before bowing out.

In the mixed doubles, Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy gave away a game’s lead to lose 22-20, 19-21, 22-24 against Canadian pair Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang in one hour and two minutes.

READ | Denmark Open 2024: Lakshya, Malvika bow out in first round

Later, promising Unnati Hooda will be up against USA’s Lauren Lam in her women’s singles opening-round match, while Satish Kumar Karunakaran will play Li Yang Su of Chinese Taipei in men’s singles.

On Tuesday, Lakshya Sen, a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, crashed out of the men’s singles event after suffering a three-game defeat at the hands of China’s Lu Guang Zu in the first round.

Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap too made first-round exits from the women’s singles competition.

The only silver lining was double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who moved into the second round after her opponent Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei retired midway in the second game, with the scoreline of 21-8, 13-7 in the Indians’ favour.