Malaysia Masters 2018: Indian shuttlers begin international season on a dismal note

Kuala Lumpur: Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy failed to cross the opening hurdle at the season-opening $ 350,000 Malaysia Masters on Tuesday. Sikki and Pranaav suffered a 18-21, 17-21 loss to seventh seed Hong Kong pair of Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Chau Hoi Wah to begin the international season on a disappointing note. Indo-Malaysian combo of Prajakta Sawant and Yogendran Khrishnan reached the second round of the mixed doubles after getting a walkover from Australian combo of Sawan Serasinghe and Setyana Mapasa. [caption id=“attachment_4073177” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Chopra. Image courtesy: Twitter @BAI_Media[/caption] With the Premier Badminton League coming to an end last Sunday, Indian shuttlers, including P Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth, decided to take part in the Malaysia Masters, which is one of the seven BWF World Tour Super 500 event. However, it was a dismal start to the international calendar for most Indian as they failed to cross the opening hurdle. In the men’s singles qualifier, Kashyap suffered a 14-21, 17-21 loss to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen, while Subhankar Dey lost 21-11, 11-21, 9-21 to Denmark’s Kim Bruun. In women’s doubles qualifiers, Aparna Balan and Sruthi KP lost to Singapore pair of Ong Ren-Ne and Wong Jia Ying Crystal 12-21, 21-18, 15-21 while Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant suffered a 20-22, 18-21 defeat to Malaysian pair of Chiew Sien Lim and Zhen Yap. Praneeth will face Kantaphon Wangcharoen on Wednesday, while women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy will take on German combo of Johanna Goliszewski and Kaepplein Lara.