Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag kick off Malaysia Open With wins

Olympic medallist PV Sindhu marked a confident return to competitive badminton after a long injury break, while star men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also registered comfortable wins to move into the second round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament here on Wednesday.

Sindhu, playing her first BWF World Tour event in nearly three months, showed composure and sharpness as she defeated Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun 21-14, 22-20 in a 51-minute women’s singles first-round encounter. The former world champion had withdrawn from tournaments since October last year to recover from a foot injury, but looked fit and focused in her season opener.

Currently ranked 18th in the world, the 30-year-old Indian controlled the opening game with authority, racing to an early lead and keeping Sung under pressure with her deep clears and precise placement. She wrapped up the first game without much difficulty.

The second game, however, tested Sindhu’s patience and resolve. She found herself trailing 4-11 at one stage as Sung stepped up the pace. Sindhu gradually clawed her way back, levelling the score at 13-all, only for the Chinese Taipei shuttler to again surge ahead to 17-14. Drawing on her experience, Sindhu stayed calm, fought back to make it 17-all and then held her nerve at 20-all to pocket the final two points and close out the match.

The victory extended Sindhu’s head-to-head record against Sung to 2-0 and set up a round-of-16 clash with Japan’s world No.9 Tomoka Miyazaki. Sindhu and Miyazaki are evenly placed at 1-1 in previous meetings, with the Indian winning their last encounter at the 2025 China Masters. Miyazaki progressed after her South Korean opponent Sim Yu Jin retired hurt during their match.

In men’s doubles, former world No.1 pair Satwik and Chirag underlined their status as title contenders with a straight-game win over Chinese Taipei’s Yang Po-Hsuan and Lee Jhe-Hue. The Asian Games champions prevailed 21-13, 21-15 in just 35 minutes to enter the pre-quarterfinals.

The Indian duo, who had a perfect 6-0 head-to-head record against the Taiwanese pair coming into the contest, dominated the opening game from the outset. Although their opponents put up a stronger fight in the second game, staying level till 12-all, Satwik and Chirag shifted gears at the right moment to seal the match. They will next face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap.

Mixed results followed for other Indian players. Mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out in the round of 32 after a close three-game loss to American duo Presley Smith and Jennie Gai. Women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fought hard before losing to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, while the Panda sisters Rutuparna and Swetaparna suffered a straight-game defeat against Malaysia’s second-seeded Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

Overall, Sindhu’s assured comeback and the strong start by Satwik-Chirag provided a positive beginning for India’s campaign at the season-opening Super 1000 event.