Lucknow: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu hardly broke any sweat but defending champion Kidambi Srikanth had to toil hard to advance to the prequarterfinals of the USD 120,000 Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
Sindhu tested the conditions at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium en route to her easy 21-9 21-11 win over compatriot Anura Prabhudesai in a lop-sided women’s singles contest, while third seed Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from fellow Indian Lakhanee Sarang 15-21 21-7 21-14 in his opening men’s singles match before notching up a 21-5 21-12 win over Malaysia’s Zulhelmi Zulkiffli.
The 21-year-old Sindhu, who won the China Open Super Series last year, will face another Indian Lalita Dahiya, while third seed Srikanth, who is coming back after recovering from an ankle injury, will face compatriot Ansal Yadav, who beat 16th seed Pratul Joshi 18-21 21-16 21-16 in another match.
Among other Indians in men’s singles, H S Prannoy, Verma brothers — Sourabh and Sameer, B Sai Praneeth and Harsheel Dhani also reached the third round.
2016 Swiss Open winner, Prannoy, seeded sixth and has been in rampaging form at the Premier Badminton League, brushed aside NVS Vijetha 21-11 21-9 and Bodhit Joshi 21-16 21-8 in the first two rounds to set up a clash with 15th seed Dhani, who defeated Aryamann Tandon 21-12 21-17 in another second round match.
Praneeth, seeded ninth, beat Aditya Joshi 21-14 21-9 in the first round and then defeated Ashish Sharma 21-15 21-10 to make it to the pre-quarters, while Chinese Taipei champion Sourabh, 11th seed, dispatched Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 21-11 21-17 before beating Shubham Prajapati 21-6 21-10.
Hong Kong Open finalist Sameer Verma, eighth seed, emerged winner in the opening game after Kartik Jindal retired when he was trailing 1-5 and the Indian then beat K Ajay Kumar 21-13 21-14 to make it to the next round.
Among other seeded shuttlers, World No 15 and second seed Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark, his fifth seeded compatriot Anders Antonsen, Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli, seeded 7th, Israel’s 13th seed Misha Zilberman and 12th seed Emil Holst also reached the pre-quarters.
In women’s singles, Polish Open winner Rituparna Das spanked Nepal’s Nangsal Tamang 21-5 21-6 and will take on eighth seeded Russian Ksenia Polikarpova, who beat India’s Riya Pillai 21-12 21-11.
Aakarshi Kashyap, Sri Krishna Priya and Migdha Agrey also reached the second round after winning their respective openeing round matches.
Among other prominent names, Spain’s Beatriz Corrales, third seed, sixth seeded Indonesian Hanna Ramadini and Dinar Dyah Ayustine, fifth seed, also reached the second round.
In men’s doubles, India’s Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy had to toil hard before getting the better of Singapore’s Yong Kai Terry Hee and Kean Hean Loh 15-21 25-23 21-14 in the opening match.
Top seeds Mathais Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark fought back from a game down to beat young Indian combo of Satwik Reddy and Chirag Shetty 22-24 21-14 21-14 in a thrilling game, while Denmark’s second seeds Mathias Christiansen and David Daugaard beat Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila 21-18 21-14.
Indonesian-Malaysian pair of Hendra Setiawan and Malaysian Boon Heong Tan, seeded fifth, fourth seeded Indonesian duo of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Belgium’s Matjis Dierickx and Freek Golinski, Singaporean sixth seeds Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya, Russia’s Evgenij Dremin and Denis Grachev, Chinese Taipei’s eighth seeds LU Ching Yao and Yang Po Han also reached the second round in men’s doubles.
In women’s doubles, Indian pairs of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant and Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy reached the second round, while second seeds Malaysian combo of Mei Kuan Chow and Lee Meng Yean also made it to the next round.
Top seeds Denmark’s Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen will play their first match in the quarterfinals as they have received walkovers in the earlier rounds.
In mixed doubles, eighth seeded Indo-Malaysian pair of Prajakta and Yogendran Khrishnan, top seeds Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen, sixth seeds Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai, third seed Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei han Tan of Singapore, seventh seeds Ashwini Ponnapa and B Sumeeth Reddy, fifth seeded Danish pair of Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen, Russian fourth seeded combo of Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova and second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy also reached the second round.
Source: Zee News