Sindhu wins; Jwala-Ashwini, Manu-Sumeeth lose openers
- Sindhu spanked Laura Sarosi of Hungary in the women's singles competition
- In the men's doubles competition, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21 13-21 to World No.2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan
- Jwala and Ashwini opened a 4-1 lead but ended up blowing it away in no time against the Japanese pair
Â
Ninth seed Sindhu spanked Laura Sarosi of Hungary in the women's singles competition 21-8 21-9 in a Group M match that lasted for 27 minutes. She will play against Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion Li Michelle of Canada on August 14 to complete the preliminary group engagements.
Â
Sindhu didn't break any sweat against her World No. 64 rival as she took 13 and 14 minutes to wrap up the first and second games.
Â
Earlier, the Indian combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa was off to a disappointing start in the women's doubles event, losing 15-21 10-21 to the World No.1
Â
Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto in a match which lasted 36 minutes in their Group A opener.
Â
The Indians will next be up against the world No.11 Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in their second group clash on Friday.
Â
In the men's doubles competition, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21 13-21 to World No.2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
Â
Manu and Sumeeth fought hard in the opening game before running out of steam. They will be facing the World No. 5 Chinese pair of Biao Chai and Wei Hong.
Â
Jwala and Ashwini opened a 4-1 lead but ended up blowing it away in no time after the Japanese pair put across some targetted deep returns which the Indians failed to judge.
Â
The world No.1s, in contrast, were quick on their feet and returned everything that the Indians threw at them. Jwala and Ashwini, who were struggling to coordinate their moves, trailed 8-11 at the first lemon break and could not bridge the gap even once.
Â
The Japanese pair produced a couple of brilliant winners -- a backhand flick down the line by Matsumoto being particularly impressive -- to wrap up the opening game in 19 minutes without breaking much of a sweat.
Â
The second game followed a similar script with Takahashi and Matsumoto racing to a 6-3 lead. The top seeds capitalised on Jwala and Ashwini's apparent lack of rhythm and managed to send down winners in open gaps.
Â
Jwala and Ashwini were found wanting close to the net as well and ended up committing quite a few unforced errors to lose the match rather timidly.