Indonesia Open 2026: PV Sindhu and Arjun-Hariharan’s explosive start, advanced by winning the first round match

PV Sindhu in Indonesia Open 2026: Indian star shuttler PV Sindhu made a winning start in Indonesia Open 2026. In the first round match played at Istora Senayan Stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday, she defeated Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 25-23, 21-16. Former world champion Sindhu faced a tough challenge to win, but she performed brilliantly in the match that lasted 51 minutes and won the match in straight games. Sindhu registered a close win in the first game on the basis of her aggressive play and then maintained the same rhythm in the second game and secured her place in the next round.

Now there will be a fight with the world champion?

PV Sindhu will now face a tough challenge in the second round, where she is likely to face defending Olympic champion and world No. 1 Ann Se-Young. Sindhu ‘head-to-head’ She is behind 0-9 in the record and last week she also lost to the same Korean player in the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open.

Another pair to make it to the next round was men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amskarunan and MR Arjun, who registered a straight games win over 2016 Olympic medalist Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia and his current partner Noor Mohd Azrin.

Sindhu ahead in head to head record

India’s legendary shuttler Sindhu has joined the world’s top-10 players for the first time since 2023, she started her campaign with her 11th consecutive win against the Thailand shuttler. ‘head-to-head’ against Busanan Sindhu is now ahead 21-1 in the record. Now she will face the winner of the match between top seed An Se-Young of Korea and Neslihan Arin of Türkiye.

Later, Hariharan and Arjun defeated the experienced Malaysian pair 21-18, 21-10 in just 33 minutes. Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen suffered a 21-19, 21-16 defeat at the hands of home favorite Alvi Farhan. Alvi had defeated world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the Singapore Open last week.

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On the other hand, it was a tough day for the Indian doubles teams. Women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, playing together for the first time in more than two months, lost 14-21, 12-21 to Indonesia’s Fabriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Melissa Trias Puspitasari. In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto were defeated by sixth seeded Chinese pair Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui 11-21, 10-21.

With IANS inputs