Korea Open 2023: Prannoy enters 2nd round, Sindhu, Srikanth lose

Korea Open Highlights – HS Prannoy and Priyanshu Rajawat are the only Indians to clinch victories in the first round at the Korea Open on Wednesday, 19th July 2023. Prannoy clinched a 21-13, 21-17 victory against Julie Carraggi. Rajawat meanwhile sailed past South Korea’s Choi Ji Hoon in straight games. PV Sindhu suffered a crashing first round exit. The World No.17 lost to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po 18-21, 21-10, 13-21. Kidambi Srikanth also lost to Kento Momota 21-12, 22-24, 17-21. Kiran George, Mithun Manjunath, Tasnim Mir, Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod all lost their respective first round matches.

Men’s Singles

Priyanshu Rajawat BEAT Choi Ji Hoon – 21-15, 21-19

Kiran George LOST TO Wang Tzu Wei – 17-21, 9-21

Mithun Manjunath LOST TO Ng Tze Yong – 11-21, 4-21

Kidambi Srikanth LOST TO Kento Momota – 21-12, 22-24, 17-21

HS Prannoy BEAT Julien Carraggi – 21-13, 21-17

Also Read: Faster than a F1 car! Satwiksairaj ‘SMASH’ World Record with 565 km/h Badminton hit

Women’s Singles

Tasnim Mir LOST TO Kim Ga-eun – 11-21, 18-21

Aakarshi Kashyap LOST TO Zhang Yi Man – 12-21, 17-21

Malvika Bansod LOST TO Tai Tzu Ying – 17-21, 7-21

PV Sindhu LOST TO Pai Yu Po – 18-21, 21-10, 13-21

Ashmita Chaliha LOST TO Chen Yufei – 13-21, 13-21

Tanya Hemnath LOST TO Saena Kawakami – 11-21, 17-21

Mixed Doubles

Sumeeth Reddy/Ashwini Ponnappa vs Song Hyun Cho/Lee Jung Hyun – 6.30 AM

Rohan Kapoor/Sikki Reddy vs Alvin Morada/Alyssa Leonardo – 1.20 PM

Also Read: Korea Open 2023: Schedule, Top Seeds, Draws, Check All You need to Know

Korea Open 2023: Key Matches

HS Prannoy vs Julien Carraggi

Fifth seed Prannoy, the only Indian singles player in the elite top 10, registered a 21-13 21-17 win over Belgium’s Julien Carraggi. The 31-year-old will face either Lee Yun Gyu or Lee Cheuk Yiu next.

Prannoy completely dominated in the first game against the Germab. He held the upperhand right from the start and sealed the game comfortably 21-13. In the second game, Carraggi gave a good fight. He went on to enter the interval with a slender two-point lead. Prannoy bounced back after the interval and took the lead and sealed the victory in straight games.

Kidambi Srikanth vs Kento Momota

Srikanth, on the other hand, squandered a match point advantage in the second game to go down 21-12 22-24 17-21 to former world no. 1 Kento Momota from Japan.
It was Srikanth’s 15th loss and 12th successive defeat against the two-time world champion, who has fallen to world number 53 after struggling with form for the last few years.

Srikanth had a great start to the match as he took a five-point lead and entered the interval in the first game. He went on to dominate and won the first game quite comfortably 21-12.

In the second game Momota gave a good fight. He was trailing 4-6 initially. He however came back and entered the interval with a 11-8 lead. He continued to maintain his lead for a major part of the second-half of the second game. He was leading 19-15 and looked set to take the contest into the deciding game.

However Srikanth fought back and with four straight points, levelled the scores 19-19. Neck-to-neck battle continued between both the players. He had the match point at hand while leading 21-20. He however squandered it allowing the Japanese to make a comeback as Momota went on to clinch the game 24-22.

In the final game too Srikanth was leading initially. Momota managed to mount a comeback after the interval as with five straight points, he levelled the scores 12-12. Both the players fougt tooth and nail till 17-17. However Momota sealed the game with four points on the trot.

PV Sindhu vs Pai Yu Po

Sindhu, who slipped to world number 17 this week, lost to 32-year-old world no. 22 Pai Yu-Po. The contest lasted 58 minutes. A horrible start, mainly due to Sindhu’s unforced errors, saw her fall behind 2-9 at the start of the opening game.

The Indian either sprayed the shuttle at net or hit long to hand over a huge 11-5 advantage to the Taiwanese, who managed to held on to her lead despite a desperate fightback from Sindhu following an interval.

After the change of sides, it was a different Sindhu as she came out all guns blazing, zooming to 9-1 to eventually roar back into the contest with a commanding show.
The decider turned into a thrilling contest as the duo engaged in some good rallies to move neck and neck till 9-9, after Sindhu blew a 4-1 lead.

A net error meant Pai took a slender two-point lead at the interval. However, things changed thereafter with Sindhu’s game crumbling once again as she kept hitting wide and long, allowing Pai to extend the lead to 18-12. Sindhu’s smash and lift went out as she ended the match with another net error as Pai recorded only her second win over the Indian in six meetings.

Aakarshi Kashyap, Tasnim Mir, Tanya Hemanth and Ashmita Chaliha — all were ousted from the tournament in the first round, underlining the huge gulf in quality in the second batch of Indian shuttlers.