Korean Open: 21-year-old Priyanshu’s big win, Satwik-Chirag’s excellent form continues
B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa went down 23-21, 13-21, 21-12 in the first round of mixed doubles to Korean pair of Song Hyun Cho and Lee Jung Hyun.
India’s Priyanshu Rajawat advanced to the second round of the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament after defeating local player Choi Ji Hoon in straight games in the men’s singles category. Orleans Masters winner Rajawat, world number 32, beat Choi 21-15, 21-19 in 42 minutes. He will next face top seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan. Kiran George, on the other hand, could not cross the first round hurdle and lost 17-21, 9-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei.
Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini got defeated
B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa went down 23-21, 13-21, 21-12 in the first round of mixed doubles to Korean pair of Song Hyun Cho and Lee Jung Hyun. The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, including the World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500 and 11 Super 300 level tournaments.
Satwik-Chirag’s easy victory
India’s star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the second round of the tournament after beating Thailand’s pair of Supak Jomkoh and Kitinpong Kedren in straight games. The world number three pair of Satwik and Chirag defeated Jomkoh and Kedren 21-16 21-14 in their first round encounter.
In the next round, the Indian pair will take on the Chinese pair of He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong. The world number 27 pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, however, had to withdraw midway through the match due to Arjun’s back problem. The Indian pair were trailing 5-6 in the first game when they decided to retire against the Chinese pair of Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi. Arjun told PTI, “I felt pain in my back during the rally. I put on a spray for pain relief but I didn’t feel comfortable so we decided to leave.
