Sindhu marches into Japan Open second round; Satwik-Chirag withdraw

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s recurring shoulder problem forced him and Chirag Shetty to retire from their Japan Open opener even as P V Sindhu eased into the women’s singles second round with a straight-game win over Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching here on Tuesday. The world No.4 Indian pair, who ended a two-year title drought by winning the Singapore Open but had to withdraw from Indonesia Open last month, retired after losing the opening game 19-21 to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard. Chief doubles coach Tan Kim Her said the Indian duo will be skipping the China Open next week and focus on rehabilitation to get back to shape for the home World Championships in August. “It still needs some time to recover. We have at least four weeks to get back in shape ahead of World Championships,” Tan told PTI. Two-time Olympic-medallist Sindhu, who is currently world no. 10, produced a compact performance to notch up a 21-14 21-11 win over 37th-ranked Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia in the