Basel [Switzerland], March 24 (ANI): PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth entered the third round while men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a shock defeat at the ongoing Swiss Open being played at St. Jakobshalle here on Thursday. India’s ace shuttler PV Sindhu thrashed Neslihan Yigit in straight games to storm past into the third round of Super 300 tournament. The second-seed double Olympic medallist defeated the player from Turkey by 21-19, 21-14 in 42 minutes.
At court 1, the third seeds of India, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a shock defeat in the men’s doubles round-2 encounter against the unseeded Indonesians. Satwik-Chirag went down to Indonesian pair of Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan by 19-21, 22-20 in 39 minutes.
In the men’s singles encounter Kidambi Srikanth rallied to an epic win. The 7th-seeded Indian edged Christo Popov in 73 minutes by 12-21, 25-23, 21-11 at court 2. The other Indian in men’s singles, HS Prannoy also rallied to defeat his opponent to reach the next round in Basel. Prannoy defeated Kalle Koljonen in three games by 19-21, 21-13, 21-9 in 56 minutes. With this victory, Prannoy booked an all-Indian clash with Parupalli Kashyap, who received a walkover after World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen withdrew from the tournament.
This will be the first meeting between the Prannoy and Kashyap on the BWF circuit since 2017. In women’s singles, India’s Ashmita Chaliha lost to Kirtsy Gilmour by 18-21, 22-20 in 40 minutes. In the other women’s singles encounter, even after winning the first game, Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal went down against Kisona Selvaduray. The Malaysian defeated Nehwal by 17-21, 21-13, 21-13 in 55 minutes (ANI)
