Indian shuttlers have mixed fortunes at Russia Open

India had a mixed day in office at the Russia Open as six singles shuttlers, including Sourabh Verma and Rituparna Das, progressed to the pre-quarter-finals of the USD 75,000 BWF Tour Super 100 event here on Wednesday.

Eighth seed Sourabh, who made it to the Indian team for the Asian Games after doing well in the selection tournaments, defeated compatriot Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 23-21, 21-11 in men’s singles, while former national champion Rituparna dumped local hope Victoria Slobodyanyuk 21-11, 21-18 in a women’s singles contest.

Also reaching the prequarter-finals were Siddharth Pratap Singh, fifth seed Subhankar Dey, seventh seed Mugdha Agrey and Vrushali Gummadi in singles, while men’s doubles pair of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla also entered the third round.

However, it was curtains for senior shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt as they suffered contrasting losses in the second round on Wednesday.

While Subhankar ended Ajay Jayaram’s campaign with a thrilling 15-21, 21-14, 21-15 win, fourth seed Kashyap lost 12-21, 11-21 to Japan’s Ryotaro Maruo and Russia’s Vladimir Malkov, seeded second, brushed aside Gurusaidutt 21-14 21-8 in another match.

Siddharth saw off another fellow Indian Bodhit Joshi 21-8, 21-14 to set up a clash with compatriot Subhankar.