<
>

Indian Sports Live, May 22: PV Sindhu begins with win at Malaysia Masters

PV Sindhu. Shi Tang/Getty Images

Welcome to ESPN India's daily blog, where we aim to bring you all the news from the dynamic world of Indian sports: from the wide variety of Olympic sports to franchise leagues.

May has plenty of sporting action taking place - which you can find listed out in ESPN India's sporting calendar.


Hockey: FIH Pro League

Indian men's hockey team beat Argentina 5-4 in a shootout in their first FIH Pro League match of the Antwerp leg today, after the match ended 2-2 in regulation time. PR Sreejesh stepped up with two excellent saves in the shootout, in a game that he was responsible for sending to a shootout in the first place, after a string of excellent saves in regulation time.

You can relive all the updates from the match here.

Earlier in the day, India women, however, lost their away Pro League match against Argentina 5-0. Playing under a new coach, Harendra Singh, India struggled to find their groove and


Badminton: PV Sindhu strolls to opening round victory in Malaysia Masters

PV Sindhu looked in relatively fine touch in her opening game of the Malaysia Masters Super 500, defeating Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland by a 21-17, 21-16 scoreline in 46 minutes. Sindhu started off in fine form, racing to a 7-1 lead and then 11-5 at the interval only for the Scot to claw her way back to 15-15. Sindhu held off that charge to close out the first game, and the second was a procession, with the Indian never letting her lead slip, even though Gilmour saved four match points before Sindhu finally converted.

The 28-year-old will face world no. 34 Sim Yu Jin of South Korea in the next round and Sindhu has beaten her both times they've faced each other. Should the Indian get past her Korean opponent, she will likely face top seed Han Yue of China, who'd recently beaten Sindhu at the Badminton Asia Championships, although the Indian had won their previous five meetings.

Also progressing to the next round in women's singles was Ashmita Chaliha, who beat qualifier Sih Yun Lin of Chinese Taipei. 21-16, 21-17. Next up, she will face world No 10 and third seed Beiwen Zhang.

However, it was curtains for Unnati Hooda and Aakasrshi Kashyap. Akarshi lost to second seed Wang Zhi Yi 22-24 13-21 while Unnati lost to Gao Gang Jie 21-18, 21-13.

In men's singles, Kiran George beat Takuma Obayashi 21-16, 21-17 and next faces the tough task of taking on last week's Thailand Open champ Lee Zii Jia next.

In mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy, world No. 53, also advanced to the second round after outlasting Hong Kong qualifiers Lui Chun Wai and Fu Chi Yan 21-15 12-21 21-17 in 47 minutes. The husband-wife duo will have the task of facing top seeds Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia next.

In men's doubles, Krishna Prasad Garaga and K Sai Pratheek defeated Chinese Taipei duo of Ming Che Lu and Tang Kai Wei 23-21 21-11.


What's on today?

  • Badminton: PV Sindhu and a host of other Indians are in action at the Malaysia Masters.

  • Hockey: India face Argentina in the FIH Pro League.

  • IPL: Rajasthan Royals face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator.


What happened yesterday?

  • Wrestling: The WFI announced that no trials will be held for the Paris Olympics, with the winners of the respective quotas set to form India's squad.

  • Para Athletics: Paralympics champion Sumit defended his F64 javelin world title

  • Badminton: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, began their Malaysian Masters Super 500 campaign with a win, beating the Chinese Taipei duo of Huang Yu-Hsun and Liang Ting Yu by a 21-14, 21-10 scoreline

  • IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the final with a resounding eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1.

You can find the details of yesterday's event's here.