India’s campaign at the <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/10/kidambi-srikanth-treesa-jolly-gayatri-gopichand-enter-second-round-of-denmark-open-badminton-news/" title="Kidambi Srikanth, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Enter Second Round Of Denmark Open | Badminton News”>Denmark Open Super 750 tournament came to an early end in the women’s and mixed doubles events on Wednesday, following heartbreaking defeats in both categories. The Indian pairs-Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the women’s doubles, and B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy in the mixed doubles-were both knocked out in their opening round matches after intense three-game battles.
In the women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand faced a formidable challenge against Malaysia’s fifth-seeded duo, Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah. Despite taking an early lead with a 21-19 win in the first game, the Indian pair could not maintain their momentum and eventually lost 21-19, 17-21, 15-21. The match lasted one hour and 14 minutes, with the Indian duo unable to capitalize on their early advantage.
Although ranked 21st in the world, Treesa and Gayatri were up against tough odds, having a 1-5 head-to-head record against the world no.7 Malaysian pair. Nevertheless, they put up a strong fight before ultimately succumbing to their higher-ranked opponents.
The mixed doubles match followed a similar script. B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost a closely contested encounter against Canada’s Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang. After winning the first game 22-20, the Indian pair narrowly missed out in the second, losing 19-21, and then fell short in a nail-biting third game, 22-24. The match lasted one hour and two minutes, marking yet another early exit for India at the tournament.
India’s singles campaign, however, still holds promise. Later in the day, 16-year-old rising star Unnati Hooda was scheduled to face USA’s Lauren Lam in her opening round of the women’s singles, while Satish Kumar Karunakaran was set to take on Li Yang Su of Chinese Taipei in the men’s singles.
Tuesday saw other setbacks for Indian shuttlers, with 2021 World Championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen falling to China’s Lu Guang Zu in a three-game thriller in the men’s singles. Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap both crashed out of the women’s singles in the first round.
The sole highlight of India’s campaign came from PV Sindhu, the double Olympic medallist. She advanced to the second round after her opponent, Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei, retired midway through their match, with the score reading 21-8, 13-7 in Sindh
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