PV Sindhu beats teenager Tanya Hemanth; Kriti Bharadwaj, Smit Toshniwal move up in Syed Modi tournament

PV Sindhu launched her campaign on a rousing note at the Syed Modi International BWF World Tour Super 300 badminton tournament in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The double Olympic medalist managed a convincing straight-game win over fellow Indian player Tanya Hemanth to enter the women’s singles second round.

Top seed PV Sindhu thumped Tanya 21-9, 21-9 in the first match of the second day’s play at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

Determined to make amends for the loss in the semifinals at the Indian Open Super 500 last week in New Delhi, Sindhu warmed up for the upcoming tougher battles with an easy win.

The 26-year-old taught a lesson or two to her young compatriot during their 27-minute encounter. Eighteen-year-old Tanya tried hard to stretch Sindhu, but world No. 7 proved too hot to handle for the Bengaluru girl.

World No. 132 Tanya had done reasonably well last year by notching up some solid performances in national and international tournaments but was outclassed today.

Sindhu reeled off nine successive points in the first game which put Tanya on the backfoot straightaway.

Sindhu to meet Lauren Lam in second round

The former world champion will clash with USA's Lauren Lam for a spot in the quarterfinals. The American player rallied back to edge past a fighting Ira Sharma 15-21, 21-16, 21-16 in the first round. It will be her first meeting with the world No. 79 Lauren Lam. Sindhu is aiming to end her title-drought here.

Another Hyderabad shuttler, Samiya Imad Farooqui, registered a thrilling come-from-behind win over Shruti Mundada 17-21, 21-11, 21-10 to enter the second round.

Kriti Bharadwaj displayed glimpses of his immense talent with a quick-fire 21-6, 21-4 win over Tanishq Mamilla Palli.

Smit Toshniwal surprised Purva Barve 21-13, 21-10, while Sai Uttejitha Rao got the better of Anjana Kumari 21-9, 21-12.

In another match, Kanika Kanwal quelled a spirited challenge from USA's Disha Gupta in three tough games.

Kaushal Dharmamer upset Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore 14-21, 21-11, 21-16 (Picture: BAI)

Kaushal Dharmamer rallies to upset Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason

Kaushal Dharmamer rallied back splendidly to upset Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore 14-21, 21-11, 21-16. The Mumbai shuttler needed 63 minutes to overcome world No. 99 Jia Heng.

The left-handed Kaushal, who is world No. 145, will square off against Cheam June Wei of Malaysia in the second round on Thursday.

Chirag Sen, Mithun Manjunath and Raghu Mariswamy also posted contrasting wins in their respective first round encounters.

Indian Results (Round 1)

Men’s singles

Chirag Sen bt Ansal Yadav 21-9, 21-6 (23 minutes)

Mithun Manjunath bt Alap Mishra 21-15, 21-8 (34 minutes)

Raghu Mariswamy bt Siril Verma 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 (54 minutes)

Kaushal Dharmamer bt Jia Heng Jason Teh (Singapore) 14-21, 21-11, 21-16 (63 minutes)

S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian lost to Soong Joo Ven (Malaysia) 18-21, 15-21 (41 minutes)

Siddharth Pratap Singh lost to Lucas Claerbout (France) 15-21, 8-21 (33 minutes)

Women’s singles

1-PV Sindhu bt Tanya Hemanth 21-9, 21-9 (27 minutes)

Kriti Bharadwaj bt Tanishq Mamilla Palli 21-6, 21-4 (17 minutes)

Smit Toshniwal bt Purva Barve 21-13, 21-10 (35 minutes)

Sai Uttejitha Rao C bt Anjana Kumari 21-9, 21-12 (24 minutes)

Samiya Imad Farooqui bt Shruti Mundada 17-21, 21-11, 21-10 (48 minutes)

Kanika Kanwal bt Disha Gupta (USA) 21-15, 16-21, 21-6 (40 minutes)

Prerana Neeluri bt Gadde Ruthvika Shivani 21-3, 21-4 (14 minutes)

Anura Prabhudesai lost to Yaelle Hoyaux (France) 17-21, 8-21 (27 minutes)

Vaidehi Choudhary lost to 5-Evgeniya Kosetskaya (Russia) 16-21, 10-21 (28 minutes)

Sri Krishna Priya K lost to 6-Supanida Katethong (Thailand) 13-21, 13-21 (31 minutes)

Isharani Baruah lost to Tereza Švabikova (Czech Republic) 15-21, 21-13, 18-21 (48 minutes)

Riya Mookerjee lost to Ishika Jaiswal (USA) 8-21, 15-21 (26 minutes).