Inglorious Seven: Sindhu Makes Another First Round Exit 

You may have two Olympic medals around your neck. But injuries can still be tough to recover from and you can still get stuck in a rut. 

PV Sindhu’s nightmarish 2023, caused in part by a left ankle stress fracture, continued as she suffered her seventh first round exit of the year in 13 BWF World Tour events. In the Japan Open Super 750 tournament in Tokyo on Wednesday, she went down tamely 12-21 13-21 to Zhang Yi Man of China.  

In the men’s singles, Lakshya Sen fought off his inspired countryman Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15 12-21 24-22 in 65 minutes of pulsating badminton between two 21-year-olds. 

The swashbuckling pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the Korea Open last week, also made a winning start. They beat the Indonesian pair of Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin 21-16 11-21 21-13. Satwik-Chirag are now unbeaten in eleven matches. 

Sindhu, winner of a silver and a bronze in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, respectively, and also the 2019 World Championship, had defeated the world number 18 Zhang in the Malaysian Open quarterfinals in May. But this time the match did not go her way as she struggled for so much as a foothold. Zhang improved her head to head record to 3-2 against Sindhu, who has fallen to No. 17 in the rankings and who recently started working with her new coach, 2003 All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim.

Among other Indians to exit were Mithun Manjunath and Malvika Bansod. Mithun lost to Weng Hong Yang of China 21-13 22-24 18-21 in an 85-minute tussle.

Malvika suffered a 14-21 17-21 loss against Japan's Aya Ohori.

MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila conceded while trailing 5-15 in the first game against the fourth seeded pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik due to an injury to Arjun.

Arjun had also pulled out in the Korea Open first round because of a back spasm.

Canada Open winner Sen will face Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in the second round. Satwik-Chirag take on Denmark's Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede.