Aakarshi Kashyap and Ashwini Ponnappa-B Sumeeth Reddy entered the main draw of Indonesia Masters Super 500 as badminton action returned to the iconic Istora Senayan in Jakarta after more than two years.
The qualification rounds as well as a few main draw doubles matches took place on the opening day of Indonesia Masters in Jakarta.
Aakarshi reached the women’s singles main draw while Ashwini-Sumeeth entered the mixed doubles main draw after their wins.
Aakarshi fought back from 13-21, 0-4 deficit and won the second and third games 21-9 against Sirada Roongpiboonsopit from Thailand. She will face American veteran Beiwen Zhang next.
In mixed doubles, Ashwini-Sumeeth also had come from behind against Yujiro NISHIKAWA and Saori OZAKI of Japan (ranked No 77) in the world to win 17-21 21-18 21-14.
But elsewhere there were defeats for the Indian contingent.
While Subhankar Dey and Karthikey Gulshan Kumar lost in the men’s singles qualification rounds, Ashwini-Sikki Reddy were knocked out in the women’s doubles main draw opening round.
The experienced Indian duo lost against 18-year-old Indonesian duo Meilysa Trias Puspita Sari/Rachel Allessya Rose, ranked 160 in the world. Also losing in the women’s doubles opening round was Simran Singhi and Ritika Thakker who had a tough ask against second seeds.
Former national champions Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri started well against world No 16 in the men’s doubles opening round but lost Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan 19-21 21-11 21-8.
On Wednesday, the tournament heats up across the board as India’s top title hopes PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen begin their campaigns.
See list of India’s matches on Wednesday here.
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