Sindhu, Saina, Prannoy advance at Hong Kong Open
Hong Kong, Nov 22 (IANS) Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and H.S. Prannoy advanced to the second round while Parupalli Kashyap and the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy fell in the opening round of the Hong Kong Open Superseries on Wednesday.
While second seed Sindhu eased past Hong Kong’s qualifier Leung Yuet Yee 21-18, 21-10, Saina registered a hard-fought 21-19, 23-21 win over Denmark’s Mette Poulsen.
In the men’s singles, Prannoy moved into the second round after a 19-21, 21-17, 21-15 win in an hour and one minute over Hong Kong’s Hu Yun.
Kashyap lost 21-15, 9-21, 20-22 to South Korean Lee Dong Keun in an hour and nine minutes.
Sourabh Verma too exited the competition, losing to Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto 15-21, 8-21 in 30 minutes.
The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini and Sikki fought hard but couldn’t prevent China’s Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei from advancing to the next round. The Chinese won 21-11, 19-21, 21-19 in 55 minutes.