Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu make convincing start at the Maybank Malaysia Open 2014

Indian shuttlers have started off well in the second badminton tournament of 2014. The Malaysia Open Super Series was off to a flier on Wednesday 15th Jan 2014 with the matches being played at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In the first match of the tournament featuring Indian representation, Anand Pawar went out in the first round in the morning session as he was defeated by Chinese opponent Wang Zhengming 21-12, 21-11.

The top two women shuttlers both won their first round matches though – P V Sindhu outclassed her Indonesian opponent Lindaweni Fanetri in a 43-minute clash 21-17, 21-18 and later Saina Nehwal defeated another Indonesian, Hera Desi, 21-10, 21-16. In the men’s singles category, world no. 28 R M V Gurusaidutt failed to progress to the second round after losing his opener to Eric Pang.

In the evening session of play, Kashyap Parupalli and Srikanth K won their respective matches to advance to the second round. It was the third instance in his career of Kashyap facing off against Marc Zwiebler. After having lost each of the previous meetings, he performed strongly this time to defeat the world no. 12 in dominant fashion 21-19, 21-13.

On the other hand, Srikanth K fought bravely against world no. 11 Yu Hun of Hong Kong to seal his place in the second round. He will now lock horns with Wan Ho Son of Korea in a match to be played on court 4 at the Putra Stadium on Thursday.

On Thursday, 16th January 2014, four Indian players will be on court for their singles matches. All eyes will be on Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu as they look to start the year on a positive note.