Sindhu, Prannoy off to flying start
Top shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy progressed to the women’s and men’s singles pre-quarterfinals with straight game wins on a mixed day for India at the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament on Wednesday.
Olympic silver medallist Sindhu brushed aside Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri 21-8, 21-15 in the opening round to set up a clash with Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin.
Playing only his second tournament after recovering from an inflammation in his ankle, Prannoy defeated Spain’s Pablo Abian, who had clinched the White Nights title last week, 21-16, 21-19 in a men’s singles match at Nimibutr Stadium here. The fourth seeded Indian will face experienced Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia on Thursday.
Returning to action after recovering from a stress fracture on his shin, 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap saw off Canada’s Jason Anthony HoShue 21-15, 21-17 to set up a pre-quarterfinal against Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.
Meanwhile, men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy prevailed over Chinese Taipei’s Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 21-18, 15-21, 21-17 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
However, it was curtains for Swiss Open champion Sameer Verma and young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka in the opening round.
Sameer lost 18-21, 16-21 to Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, while Vaishnavi was shown the door by eighth seed Sayaka Sato of Japan after notching up a 2113, 21-17 win over the Indian. Also bowing out of the tournament was rising men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok after losing 18-21, 21-13, 16-21 to Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira and Ade Yusuf Santoso of Indonesia.
Another men’s pair of Mandiraju Anilkumar Raju and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also put up a fight before going down 21-14, 12-21, 14-21 to Chung Yonny and Tam Chun Hei of Hong Kong.
Among others, women’s doubles pairing of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram, mixed duo of Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh, and Tarun Kona and Saurabh Sharma crashed out of the tournament.