Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from 2016 All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to make a positive start to her campaign at the Singapore Open on Wednesday.
Sindhu, who had clinched her maiden India Open Super Series title earlier this month, fought back from a game down to eke out a 10-21, 21-15, 22-20 win in the opening round of a women's singles match that lasted an hour and two minutes.
The fifth seeded Indian will face Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani next.
B Sai Praneeth also dished out a gritty performance to prevail 17-21, 21-7, 21-19 over Denmark's Emil Holst.
The Indian will clash with China's Qiao Bin on Thursday.
New pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also showed their prowess in a fighting 21-19, 21-19 win over Malaysian combo of Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen in women's doubles competition.
However, it was curtains for Verma brothers – Sourabh and Sameer -- as well as for Rituparna Das in the singles events.
While National Champion Sourabh failed to match Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and lost 15-21, 14-21 in just 39 minutes, Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold champion Sameer battled hard before going down 26-28, 21-23 to Hong Kong's Hu Yun.
Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching ended Rituparna's campaign, handing her a 18-21, 13-21 defeat in 58 minutes.
Mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankirteddy and Maneesha K, however, lost 13-21, 21-16, 11-21 to Lu Ching Yao and Chiang Kai Hsin of Chinese Taipei, while men's doubles combo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 8-21, 16-21 defeat to Japanese combo of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda.
Image: P V Sindhu
