Japan Open 2019: Sai Praneeth shocks Nishimoto to progress into second round 

Sai Praneeth and the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy moved into the second round of Super 750 Japan Open played at Tokyo on Tuesday. Sai caused a huge upset by stunning World No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-17, 21-13 in 41 minutes.

In the first game, there was some resistance from the opponent, but the Indian made a comfortable move to pocket the game. The second game saw Praneeth dominating the Japanese and he won the game easily. Sai will now take on Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the second round.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy defeated the German pair of Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler with a score of 21-14, 21-19 to move into the second round. The Indian pair, who was knocked out in the first round of the Indonesia Open last week, played with aggression and created pressure on their German opponents. They will take on fourth seeds Puavaranukroh and Taerattanachai of Thailand in the second round.

Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy lost to Malaysian pair of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 12-21, 16-21 to be knocked out of the tournament.

PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will start their respective campaigns on Wednesday. Sindhu will be looking to continue her form in the Japan Open and go one step further. The 2-time World Championship silver medallist Sindhu will take on China’s Hue Yan.

Srikanth will take on his compatriot HS Prannoy in the first round. Sameer Verma would face Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the first round.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will face Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge of England in the first round of men’s doubles tomorrow. Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy will also start their challenge on the same day.

Indian badminton fans would be hoping that PV Sindhu gets to end her title drought seven months after triumphing at the BWF World Tour Finals.