Nagpur's Malvika makes Turkish challenge ineffective with a hard-fought win over experienced Arin in Thailand Open

Nagpur: Ace Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod fought for over an hour to make the Turkish challenge ineffective in the opening round of the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton tournament in Bangkok on Wednesday.

Up against experienced Neslihan Arin of Turkiye in the women's singles first round, the star Nagpur shuttler Malvika started with a thumping performance but faltered in the second game.

The 23-year-old southpaw rallied from a point down (10-11) at the change of ends in the decider to take an 18-16 lead and made Arin's challenge ineffective in the dying stage to win the third game 21-17.

Malvika won the hard-fought one-hour and four-minute opening round contest 21-12, 13-21, 21-17.

While the 23rd-ranked Malvika won a tense three-game battle, star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen crashed out in the opening round after he fell to Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in a thrilling tie, losing 18-21, 21-9, 17-21 in a men's singles match that lasted one hour and 20 minutes. Priyanshu Rajawat also made an early exit as he suffered a 13-21, 21-17, 16-21 defeat against Indonesia's Alwi Farhan.

In the women's singles opening round, Aakarshi Kashyap and Unnati Hooda escaped to post hard-fought victories. While Aakarshi held her nerves to get the better of Japan's Kaoru Sugiyama, 21-16, 20-22, 22-20, Unnati registered an exciting 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 win over Thamonwan Nithiittikrai from Thailand.

In the second round, Malvika will face seventh seed and world No 11 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. In their previous two meetings, Malvika lost both encounters to the experienced Ratchanok. In the other second-round outings, Aakarshi will square up against fourth seed Supanida Katethong, and Unnati will be up against top seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.