WUHAN (CHINA), April 24: Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal notched up contrasting wins to enter the second round but Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock defeat in the Asia Badminton Championship here on Wednesday.
Olympic and world championship silver-medallist Sindhu eased past Takahashi Sayaka of Japan in straight games.
Sindhu looked in command from the beginning and registered a thumping 21-14, 21-7 victory in just 28 minutes. The fourth-seeded Indian will next face Choirunnisa of Indonesia.
World number nine Saina had to work hard to get the better of China�s Han Yue.
The seventh seeded Indian came back strongly to pull off a thrilling 12-21, 21-11, 21-17 win after conceding the first game. The London Olympics bronze-medallist will next square off against Kim Ga Eun of South Korea.
In men�s singles, fifth seed Srikanth lost to Indonesia�s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in 16-21, 20-22 in a match that lasted 44 minutes. This was the Indian Open finalist�s second meeting with Rhustavito.
The two had last met at the BWF World Junior Championships in 2011, where too the Indonesian had defeated Srikanth 11-21, 21-13, 21-16.
Sameer Verma notched up a hard-fought 21-13, 17-21, 21-18 victory over Sakai Kazumasa of Japan.
The Indian survived a scare after losing the second game but, following a struggle that lasted an hour and seven minutes, he trumped the Japanese. The world number 15 Indian will next face Hong Kong�s Ng Ka Long Angus.
It was end of the road for the men�s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Ramchandran Shlok, who went down 18-21, 15-21 to the Chinese duo of He Jiting and Tan Qiang.
In the women�s doubles event India�s campaign came to end as all three pairs lost their matches. � PTI
