Saina Nehwal bows out of Malaysia Open; PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth advance to next round

Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal lost her opening match of the Malaysia Open as she was defeated by Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 22-20, 15-21, 10-21.

Meanwhile, PV Sindhu and Kidami Srikanth were able to win their opening matches to enter round two of the tournament.

Nehwal was able to register a win in a hard-fought opening game and she was able to take the first set by winning 20 points as against Chochuwong. But the Thailand shuttler bounced back in the second and third game, catching Nehwal off guard.

Nehwal was making a comeback to the badminton court after recovering from acute gastroenteritis that she suffered during the All England Open last month.

Olympic silver medalist Sindhu was able to knock off World no 20 Aya Ohori's challenge as she defeated her 22-20, 21-12 to register her sixth win over the Japanese.

Sindhu was trailing against Ohori 2-5 in the opening seat and the latter jumped to a 12-7 advantage. But the Indian shuttler bounced back, grabbing a 13-12 lead. The Japanese once again went ahead to hold a game point in the opening set, but Sindhu registered three back to back points to secure the opening game. In the second game, Sindhu game back with an attacking mindset in front of which the Japanese crumbled.

On the other hand, India Open finalist Srikanth defeated Indonesia's Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 21-18, 21-16.

H.S. Prannoy, who was able to reach the quarter-finals of India Open, bowed out of the Malaysia Open as he lost 21-12, 16-21, 14-21 against Thailand's Sitthikon Thammasin in a hard-fought encounter.

Indian Men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also failed to register a win in the opening encounter as they lost 16-21, 6-21 to Han Chengkai and Zhou Haodong of China.

Sindhu will next take on Korea's Sung Ji Hyun whereas Srikanth will face Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab.