Kallang [Singapore], June 6 (ANI): India's two-time Olympic medallist and star shuttler PV Sindhu, lost against the reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the first round of the Singapore Open 2023 in the badminton women's singles event on Tuesday.

Sindhu, the defending champion of the Singapore Open came into the contest unseeded after making four first-round exits. The Indian badminton player started the season as world No. 7 but now she has dropped out of the top 10 in the badminton world rankings.

Currently ranked 13th, PV Sindhu won the first game but went down in the next two rounds to lose the game by 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 in 61 minutes,She dominated the first game with Akane Yamaguchi trying to catch up for the most part of the game. The second game saw PV Sindhu lead 14-12 at one point, however, the Japanese shuttler took the momentum away and managed to take the match into the deciding round.

Despite pulling off a few smashes and effective drop shots in the final round, Sindhu failed to take the lead in the third game and ended up losing to the Japanese shuttler in three games.

This was PV Sindhu's 10th loss against Akane Yamaguchi. However, Sindhu leads the head-to-head tally 14-10.

On the other hand, HS Prannoy, playing for the first time since winning the Malaysia Masters last month, failed to break his losing streak against world No. 3 Kodai Naraoka of Japan. He ended up losing the match by 21-15, 21-19 in 56 minutes. This was HS Prannoy's fourth loss against the Japanese badminton player.

Prannoy, ranked seventh, and Kodai Naraoka started the match on equal footing as they fought hard for each point. The first game, went in the way of the Japanese shuttler after scores were tied at 7-7.

The second game began in a similar fashion and Naraoka raced ahead after the scores were level at 4-4.

HS Prannoy cut Naraoka's four-point lead and caught up at 16-16 but the Japanese shuttler held onto his nerves and clinched the second game to close out the contest.

In other clashes, Kidambi Srikanth, world No. 23, defeated world No. 29 Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-15, 21-19 in his opening round of men's singles.

India's men's doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila got the better of the French pair Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-16, 21-15 in their first round. (ANI)