Saina crashes out; Sindhu, Srikanth advance in Malaysia

India’s leading shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round, but Saina Nehwal failed to cross the opening hurdle, at the Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday.

Olympic and World Championship silver medallist  Sindhu staved off a spirited challenge from world No. 20 Aya Ohori, winning 22-20, 21-12 to record her sixth win over the Japanese, while India Open finalist Srikanth beat Indonesia's Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 21-18, 21-16 in 38 minutes.

Fifth seed Sindhu will now look to avenge her All-England loss against Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, whom she faces next, while Srikanth will meet Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab on Thursday.

Eighth seed Saina, who came into the tournament after recovering from a pancreas infection, put up a good fight before going down 22-20, 15-21, 10-21 to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.

H S Prannoy, who reached the quarter-finals last week in New Delhi, however, bowed out after losing 12-21, 21-16, 21-14 to Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand.

With Sameer Verma too crashing out in the opening round, Srikanth is the only Indian left in the fray in the men's singles.

The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who entered the semi-finals in India Open, also failed to cross the opening hurdle, going down 16-21, 6-21 to seventh seeds Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong of China.

In the women's singles, world No. 6 Sindhu trailed in the opening game after an initial 5-2 lead as Ohori raced to 12-7. The Indian clawed back, grabbing a slender 13-12 lead, but the Japanese again moved ahead to hold a game point.

Sindhu then reeled off three points to secure the opening game.

In the second game, Sindhu changed strategy and reduced her errors to zoom to a 12-5 lead. He then toyed with Ohori to end up with an easy win.