Following India’s super start at the Indonesia Masters badminton tournament, top stars Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth will open their campaigns in their respective Round of 16 clashes on the second day of the Super 750 event on Wednesday. (More Badminton News)
The Indonesia Masters will be the eighth event according to the 2021 BWF World Tour calendar as several tournaments got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.
The Indonesia Masters, which carries a prize money USD 600,000, will be live telecast on Star Sports channels – Star Sports 2 HD and Star Sports 3. Day's matches start at 9:30 AM. The Indonesia Masters live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar.
All the matches will be played at Bali International Convention Center in Nusa Dua.
Kidambi Srikanth will open his campaign against Christo Popov of France at 10.30 AM IST while B Sai Praneeth faces local favourite Shesar Hiren Rhustavito between 10.30 AM IST to 3 PM IST. HS Prannoy will start his defence against Malaysian Liew Daren at 1.30 PM IST.
Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal’s husband, Parupalli Kashyap will play his first-round match against Danish Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus at 6.30 AM IST. The mixed doubles Indian pair of Dhruv Kapila and N. Sikki Reddy will battle it out against the local pair of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti at 10.30 AM IST.
Another Indian pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa will compete against Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia after 10.30 AM IST. Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan will square off against Chang Tak Ching and NG Wing Yung between 10.30 AM IST to 3 PM IST.
In men’s doubles, Japanese Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi test awaits MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila after 1.30 PM IST. Saina and Sameer Verma have opted out due to injury.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sindhu seeded third, recorded a 21-15, 21-19 win over Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in a 43-minute women's singles match to set up a second-round clash with Spain’s Clara Azurmendi. The date of the Sindhu vs Azurmendi duel is yet to be announced.
The 20-year-old Lakshya displayed tremendous grit on way to a 21-17, 18-21, 21-17 win over Kanta in an hour and eight minutes. Lakshya will face top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in the next round.
However, the sixth-seeded Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 17-21, 15-21 to Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi to bow out of the competition.
