Korea Open 2023: Sindhu sinks, Rajawat enters second round; Sikki-Rohan too win

Double Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu’s inconsistent run continued as she made an opening round exit in the Korea Open Super 500 tournament with a narrow three-game loss to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu-Po, here on July 18.

Double Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu's inconsistent run continued as she made an opening round exit in the Korea Open Super 500 tournament with a narrow three-game loss to Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu-Po, here on July 18.

Sindhu, who slipped to world number 17 this week, lost to the 32-year-old world no. 22 Pai Yu-Po 18-21 21-10 13-21 in the women's singles opening round. The contest lasted 58 minutes.

India's Priyanshu Rajawat, however, progressed to the second round with a straight-game win over local player Choi Ji Hoon in men's singles competition.

World number 32 Rajawat, the Orleans Masters winner, saw off Choi 21-15 21-19 in 42 minutes to set up a clash with top seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan.

Mixed pair of N. Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor, who had won the Victor Denmark Masters international challenge in June, made it to the second round with a 21-17 21-17 win over Phillipines' Alvin Morada and Alyssa Ysabel Leonardo.

The Indian duo will face Chinese fourth seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping next.

Kiran George, however, failed to cross the opening round hurdle, going down to Chinese Taipei's world number 29 Wang Tzu wei 17-21 9-21 in another men's singles match.