The Indonesia Open 2022 has kicked off at Istora Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta and the final will take place on 19 June. This is the 40th edition of the tournament and the first day saw some of the ace Indian Shuttlers like PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth losing their opening games with Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy the shining lights for the nation.
The tournament is the part of BWF World tour, the Super 1000 series where 64 singles players and 96 doubles teams come together from across the globe to compete for the coveted title. A total of 5 singles players and 6 doubles teams are playing from the Indian squad and 3 singles players and 3 doubles teams were in action on Day 1.
Here are the highlights of Tuesday’s matches:
Women’s Singles: P.V. Sindhu vs He Bing Jiao
The World ranked 7th, P.V. Sindhu went down to her Chinese opponent He Bing Jiao who is currently ranked 9th with a close score of 21-14, 21-18 in two straight games. It was indeed disappointing for Sindhu who had an 8-9 record against Bing Jiao and has won thrice against her in the last three meetings but India’s ace shuttler wasn’t able to find the break-through on the day.
The 25-year old was able to dominate the two-time Olympic bronze-medal winning shuttler in both the games owing to the latter’s slow start and bad form. She raced to a 9-2 lead and although Sindhu fought back with four consecutive points after the break, Beng Jiao bagged the first game.
In the second game, the Chinese player maintained a lead with Sindhu trying to keep it close by winning points at regular intervals. The Indian shuttler was seen making errors due to an aggressive path she took giving her opponent many freebies to win over.
Women’s Doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa and Reddy N. Sikki vs Srivedya Gurazada and Ishika Jaiswal
After Sindhu’s defeat in Women’s Singles, a relief was brought by a victory in the Women’s Doubles category. The star duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Reddy N. Sikki finished round 1 in a clear manner defeating their opponents Srivedya Gurazada and Ishika Jaiswal 21-15 and 21-8 in the two games.
It hardly took 27 minutes for the veteran Indian duo to clean sweep their opponent with a huge score difference. The difference in points during the second game was significantly high, making it difficult for the Indo-American duo to cope throughout the second game.
The duo’s current ranking stands at World no. 23 and is considered to be India’s best women’s Doubles team and is now the best chance of success for India in the ongoing tournament.
Men’s Singles: Sameer Verma vs Thomas Rouxel
Sameer Verma sails to the second round of the 2022 Indonesia Open
Sameer Verma managed to keep the spirit of the tournament alive for the Indian team by winning against Fench shuttler Thomas Rouxel. Verma won the match by winning two straight games at a score of 21-19 and 21-15 respectively in 45 minutes.
Despite suffering from injuries for quite some time, the 27-year old managed to make way to the second round of the tournament where he will be seen competing against the sixth-seeded Malaysian shuttler Lee Zii Jia.
Men’s Singles: B. Sai Praneeth vs Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus
The day didn’t start well for B. Sai Praneeth too as the 29-year old Indian shuttler got ousted by the 36-year old Danish star Hans Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
It was an easy game for Vittinghus as he didn’t face any hard challenge from his opponent despite having a close game. He won the match by winning two straight games at a score of 21-16 and 21-19 in a total of 45 minutes.
The first game was relatively easier for the Danish veteran as compared to his second game against Sai Praneeth who continued his bad form on Tuesday.
Men’s Doubles: Attri Manu and Reddy B. Sumeeth vs Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi
The men’s duo of Attri Manu and B. Summeth Reddy faced the third-seeded Japanese duo Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. The Japanese duo won against the Indian shuttlers with a huge margin of 13 points and 10 points in the first and the second game respectively.
The score was 21-8, 21-11 with Hoki and Kobayashi making a clear win in just 26 minutes as the Indian duo lacked the fighting spirit making it a disappointing match to watch and ending their journey in the tournament.
Mixed Doubles: Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto vs Chang Tak Ching and NG Wing Yung
The bad day for the Indian shuttlers continued its trend with the mixed doubles duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto getting defeated by Hong Kong’s Chang Tak Ching and NG Wing Yung. The Chinese couple defeated the young Indian shuttlers by 21-14 and 21-11 in just two games and 32 minutes in total.
The Round 1 matches will now continue on Wednesday where more Indian shuttlers like Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth will be seen in action in the Men’s Singles category.