PRANNOY POWERS ON
Srikanth too starts his campaign with win after hour-long fight
Jakarta, June 14: Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H. S. Prannoy advanced to the second round of the men’s singles competition at the $1,000,000 Indonesia Super Series Premier here on Wednesday.
The world No. 29 Prannoy saw off 20th ranked Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-13, 21-18 in a 43-minute battle. He will next face top seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei.
Srikanth then staved off a challenge from Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-15, 17-21, 21-16 in a 56-minute match. He is likely to clash with fourth seeded Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark next.
After back-to-back titles at Singapore and Thailand, B. Sai Praneeth bowed out in the opening round following a 14-21, 18-21 loss against second seeded Son Wan Ho of Korea in 40 minutes.
The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also suffered a 921, 19-21 loss against Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
It was also curtains for Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy after the duo suffered a 21-19, 19-21, 13-21 loss to the Indonesia combo of Dian Fitriani and Nadya Melati.
Coming into the match with a 1-2 head-to-head record, Srikanth made sure he left after levelling their score. The Indian dished out a gritty game as he fought hard from the start, before breaking off at 7-7 in the opening game to eventually earn the bragging rights.
In the second, Wong opened up a 7-3 lead and kept his distance despite some tough competition from Srikanth, who had narrowed down the deficit to 16-18. But Wong sealed the game and roared back into contest.
In the decider, Kidambi Srikanth fought back from 6-8 and 11-13 down to reel off six straight points at 14-14 to eventually comfortably seal the match in his favour.
B. Sai Praneeth lost in the opening round to Son Wan Ho of Korea in straight games — 14-21, 18-21. Meanwhile, it was also curtains for the men’s pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty