Defending champion P.V. Sindhu breezed past Slovakia’s Martina Repiska 21-7, 21-9 to make a resounding start to the BWF World Championship here on Tuesday.
The fast-rising Lakshya Sen prevailed over 15th-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 22-20, 15-21, 21-18, while K. Srikanth rallied to defeat China’s Li Shi Feng 15-21, 21-18, 21-17.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 27-25, 21-17 in 43 minutes.
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World No. 7 Sindhu took just 24 minutes to beat the unseeded opponent on court number 3 of Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marin Stadium here.
Seeded sixth in the tournament which she won in 2019 — when it was last held — the two-time Olympic-medallist began on a rousing note and raced to a 4-1 lead, which she stretched further to 11-4 at the break.
She continued her dominance and kept accumulating points to widen the lead, eventually pocketing the first game in only 10 minutes.
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The script remained the same in the second game as well, with Sindhu maintaining her firm grip over the proceedings to race to a 6-0 lead in just two minutes. At midpoint, Sindhu was leading 11-1.
Lakshya was made to toil one hour and 22 minutes.
However, the mixed doubles pairing of Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh suffered a straight game defeat to Malaysians Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing, going down 21-8, 21-18.
The results: Women: P.V. Sindhu bt Martina Repiska (Svk) 21-7, 21-9.
Men: K. Srikanth bt Li Shi Feng (Chn) 15-21, 21-18, 21-17; Lakshya Sen bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 22-20, 15-21, 21-18.
Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty bt Lee Jhe-Huei & Yang Po-Hsuan (Tpe) 27-25, 21-17.
Mixed doubles: Tan Kian Meng & Lai Pei Jing (Mas) bt Saurabh Sharma & Anoushka Parikh 21-8, 21-18 .