Sindhu-led India begin Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship campaign in style

It had been a while since she came to these shores to play and it had been a while since she had felt fully fit after an injury had laid her low last season.

But a fit again and raring to go PV Sindhu showed no ill effects of the stress fracture on her left foot and warmed up for the season ahead by leading India to a resounding victory in their opening encounter of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship on Tuesday.

Cheered on by a good crowd at the Expo City-Dubai Exhibition Centre, the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist helped India dismantle Kazakhstan 5-0 in their Group B encounter.

After Dubai girl Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar beat Makhsut Tadzhibullaev and Nargiza Rakhmetullayeva 21-5, 21-11 in the mixed doubles, HS Prannoy beat Dmitriy Panarin 21-9, 21-11.

Sindhu, who won the gold at the 2019 World Championships, cruised past Kamila Smagulova 21-4, 21-12 to help India take an unassailable 3-0 lead. Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala won their men’s doubles tie by defeating Khaitmurat Kulmatov and Artur Niyazov 21-10, 21-6, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand completed the rout by seeing off Nargiza Rakhmetullayeva and Aisha Zhumabek 21-5, 21-7.

“It was almost after three or four years that I’m playing here in Dubai,” Sindhu said after India’s dominant win.

“The start is good and I hope we continue the same way the whole week. I could see the crowd cheering. There are a lot of Indians who have come to cheer for us. I hope the cheering will be on every day,” the 27-year-old Commonwealth gold medallist added.

Meanwhile, world No.9 HS Prannoy said: “It was a good match. This year is an Olympic qualification year so, lot of work needs to be done. The focus is to keep playing well and being healthy.

Meanwhile, defending champions China too made a clean sweep of their Group A tie against Uzbekistan 5-0.

Hosts UAE went down to fourth-seeded Malaysia in their Group B tie.

UAE’s Bharath Latheesh, who went down to world No.4 Lee Zii Jia 21-12, 21-15, looked at the positives.

“I enjoyed playing against him. He is one of the top players,” said Latheesh.

“It was a dream come true. This was my first international competition, and I am going back with a lot of learning experiences. I will have to train more, probably 10 times more than I have been working now. My biggest dream is to play and win the Olympic gold medal,” added the pupil of DPS Dubai.

The UAE take on India on Wednesday.

Top two teams from each of the four groups will make it to the knockout stage, which begins on Day 4 of the championship.

The semifinals will be played on Saturday while the finals are set to take place on Sunday, February 19.

RESULTS

GROUP A

Korea beat Singapore 5-0

China beat Uzbekistan 5-0

GROUP B

India beat Kazakhstan 5-0

(Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto beat Makhsut Tadzhibullaev/Nargiza Rakhmetullayeva 21-5, 21-11; HS Prannoy beat Dmitriy Panarin 21-9, 21-11; PV Sindhu beat Kamila Smagulova 21-4, 21-12; Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala beat Khaitmurat Kulmatov/Artur Niyazov 21-10, 21-6; Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand beat Nargiza Rakhmetullayeva/Aisha Zhumabek 21-5, 21-7)

Malaysia beat UAE 5-0

(Lee Zii Jia beat Bharath Latheesh 21-12, 21-15; Goh Jin Wei beat Madhumitha Sundarapandian 21-0, 21-7; Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi beat Dev Ayyappan/Dhiren Ayyappan 21-11, 21-13; Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan beat Sanika Dhawan Gurav/Taabia Khan 21-9, 21-8; Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing beat Dev Vishnu/Aleena Qathun 21-10, 21-9)