PV Sindhu storms into second round of Japan Open

Rio Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu kicked off her campaign at the Japan Open with a comfortable straight-games victory over Chinese shuttler Han Yue in the opening round of the tournament at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo on Wednesday. 

The fifth-seed Indian shuttler hardly broke a sweat as she eased past Han Yue 21-9, 21-17 in a one-sided first-round clash of the women's singles event that lasted 37 minutes.

Sindhu will next lock horns with Aya Ohori of Japan for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament. 

Meanwhile, Sameer Verma--another Indian in the fray--suffered a major blow as he made a first-round exit from the tournament after slumping to a 17-21, 12-21 defeat at the hands of Anders Antosen of Denmark. 

Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth's poor run of form in 2019 continued as he slumped to a 21-13, 11-21, 20-22 defeat at the hands of compatriot HS Prannoy in the opening round of the $750,000 tournament.

Prior to the Wednesday's clash, the two Indians have faced each other five times previously, with Srikanth sealing victory on four occasions. 

Prannoy will now take on Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the second round of the men's singles event of the Japan Open. 

In the mixed doubles event, the Indian duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Reddy N. Sikki also knocked out of the event after going down against the Chinese pair of Zhend Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiaong 11-21, 14-21 in the opening clash that lasted less than 30 minutes.