In a year where men’s singles results for Indian badminton have been well below par so far on the BWF World Tour, Wednesday came as a bright spot in Kuala Lumpur at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 event. Veterans HS Prannoy and Srikanth Kidambi, and youngsters Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Ayush Shetty all beat higher-ranked players to advance into the round of 16 at the Axiata Arena. Prannoy beat world No 12 Kenta Nishimoto, Srikanth Kidambi overcame world No 13 Lu Guang Zu, Ayush Shetty – who has been having a solid season – beat world No 30 Brian Yang. And the headliner was Sathish Kumar Karunakaran defeating world No 7 and veteran of the tour Chou Tien Chen. There was however heartbreak for PV Sindhu as her search for form and rhythm continued, losing 11-21 21-14 15-21 against Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam. It was Sindhu’s 2nd defeat of the year against Nguyen. Story continues below this ad Among the early matches of the day, former Malaysia Masters winner Prannoy – in a repeat …