New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold | HS Prannoy, Purapalli Kashyap advance to second round
US Open champion HS Prannoy has defeated Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-14 21-16 to enter the second round of the New Zealand Grand Prix Gold at Auckland on Tuesday. Parupalli Kashyap has also advanced to the second round defeating Indonesia's Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-5 21-10.
Fifth seed Prannoy had a rather easy outing in his first round and defeated Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-14, 21-16. He will next play Indonesia's Firman Abdul Kholik in the second round. After defeating Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-5, 21-10, Kashyap will square off against local shuttler Oscar Guo on Wednesday.Â
Among the young shuttlers, Siril Verma, Pratul Joshi, Sourabh Verma, Neeraj Vashist, and Sahil Sipani made very good starts to their campaign in the $120,000 event and won their respective first round matches.
Seventh seed Sourabh beat Australian Nathan Tang 21-17, 21-15, 16th seed Siril got the better of Indonesia's Riyanto Subagja 21-13, 21-12, Pratul thrashed local Kiwi shuttler Daxxon Vong 21-10, 21-13, Neeraj thrashed Indonesia's
But in a shocking turn of results, Ajay Jayaram suffered a 19-21, 13-21 loss to Chia Hung Lu of Chinese Taipei in a men's singles match.
In the next round, Pratul will face top seed Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei, Neeraj takes on Australian Anthony Joe, Sourabh will fight it out with Indonesia's Henrikho Kho Wibowo, Sahil meets 11th seed Lin Yu Hsien of Chinese Taipei, Siril will play against Indonesia's Saputra Vicky Angga.
In the women's singles qualifying round, Sanyogita Ghorpade fought hard before losing 11-21, 24-22, 19-21 to Xie Yongshi of New Zealand. She had won the opening match against New Zealand's Jahvaya Wheki 21-14, 21-9.
