File photo: P.V. Sindhu displayed her trademark attacking game to edge a closely fought opening game before carrying the momentum into the second to complete a straight-game win. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

Two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu battled her way into the second round of the Indonesia Open with a straight-game win, while former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod were knocked out in the opening round in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Sindhu was made to work hard by Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan before prevailing 25-23, 21-16 in a 51-minute women’s singles round of 32 contest of the Super 1000 badminton tournament.

The former world champion displayed her trademark attacking game to edge a closely fought opening game before carrying the momentum into the second to complete a straight-game win.

The unseeded Indian is now likely to face reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 An Se-young, whom she had lost to in the quarterfinals in Singapore last week, in the second round. Sindhu has a dismal 0-9 head-to-head record against An.

However, it was a disappointing day for Srikanth, who bowed out after a 19-21, 15-21 defeat to Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in the men’s singles opening round. World No. 10 Lakshya went down 19-21, 16-21 to Alwi Farhan, a local favourite and 2023 Junior World Champion.

Malvika also made a first-round exit. She was outclassed by seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong. The Thai shuttler dominated throughout to register a 21-12, 21-10 victory.

The men’s doubles pair Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun progressed to the second round with a convincing 21-18, 21-10 win over the higher-ranked Malaysian combination of Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong.

But the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, and the mixed doubles combine of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto were eliminated in the first round.

Playing their first match together in more than two months, Treesa and Gayatri lost 14-21, 12-21 to Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, a local pair. Dhruv-Tanisha duo suffered a 11-21, 10-21 defeat against the sixth-seeded Chinese pair of Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui.

Published on Jun 02, 2026