The Malaysia Open 2024 has kicked off on Tuesday 9 January at the Axita arena in Kuala Lumpur. It is the first Badminton tournament of BWF World Tour 2024. In Men’s Singles, the top seed Viktor Axelsen and the Indian star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth cleared the first round of the competition. The Indian duo Ponnappa/Crasto also triumphed in Women’s doubles.
Super from Kidambi Srikanth 🇮🇳!@HSBC_Sport#HSBCbadminton #BWFWorldTour #MalaysiaOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/QJ6vk2athP
— BWF (@bwfmedia) January 9, 2024
Malaysia Open 2024 Day 1 Highlights
Men’s Singles:
The world No.1 Viktor Axelsen defeated his opponent K.Y Loh(21-13, 21-15) in two straight rounds. Srikanth defeated the 6th seed Jonathan Christie after trailing in first set(12-21, 21-18, 21-16). He will face Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long in next round. The 4th seed Anthony Ginting(Indonesia) and Chinese star 7th seeded Shi Yuqi also recorded wins in first round.
Women’s Singles:
India’s journey in women’s singles was crashed in round 1 itself as Aakarshi Kashyap was defeated in two rounds(15-21, 15-21) by Chinese Y.M Zhang. The top seed An Se-young defeated Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt(21-16, 21-10), while 3rd seed Akane Yamaguchi and 8th seed Han Yue also qualify for round 2.
Men’s Doubles:
The Indian pair Kapila/Arjun gave a tough fight against Lees’ pair of South korea. But couldn’t come on top as they were defeated in two rounds(21-16, 21-19). The top seed Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang of China qualify for next round, while 4th seed Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark and 7th seed Japanese pair Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi also progress to next round.
The 2nd seed Indian duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty will be in action on Day 2.
Women’s Doubles:
The Indian duo Panda sisters, Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda also dissapoint in the first round of Women’s doubles as they were defeated by the Japanese 7th seed Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara(21-12, 21-11) quite comfortably. Another duo Ponnappa/Crasto defeated the American pair Allison/Corbett(21-13, 21-16).
The top seeded Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan of China defeated 2nd seeded Baek Ha-na/Lee So-hee of South Korea, while the 3rd seed Kim So-yeong/Kong Hee-yong qualify for next round.
Mixed Doubles:
The world No.1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, the 6th seed Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai and 7th seed Kim Won-ho/Jeong Na-eun qualify for next round, while the 4th seed Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping faced a stunning defeat.
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