Badminton, Arctic Open Super 500: Malvika Bansod through to Round 2; PV Sindhu loses on tour return
This was Sindhu’s first appearance on the tour since she competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics in September.
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
Malvika Bansod continued her rich vein of form as she came up with an upset win over Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun in the first round of the Arctic Open Super 500 badminton event in Vantaa, Finland on Tuesday.
Bansod had created a stir at the China Open Super 1000 in September when she beat higher ranked players Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and Kirsty Gilmour en route to a quarter-final finish.
On Tuesday, the 23-year-old Indian, now ranked 37 in the world, beat the world No 23 Sung 21-19, 24-22 in a match that lasted 57 minutes.
Bansod took a strong 8-2 lead in the first game, and later had another six-point lead at 16-10, but Sung clawed her way back into the match to level the scores at 17-17. Sung even managed to go up 19-18, only for Bansod to win the next three points on the trot to seal the first game 21-19.
In the second game, Bansod once again managed to open up a gap to lead 6-2, only for the Taiwanese player to level the scores at 6-6. Both players kept within distance of each other thereon, until Bansod had three match points at 20-17.
Sung saved all three points and had a game point of her own...
