BWF Hong Kong Open | Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy progress to second round

Saina started her campaign on a winning note as she defeated World No. 44 Mette Poulsen by 21-19, 23-21 in 46 minutes. In the next round, Saina will face eighth-seeded Chinese Chen Yuefi, who won the bronze medal at the Glasgow Worlds in August. Sindhu too had an easy match in Hong Kong as she beat local player Leung Yuet Yee 21-18, 21-10. She will face Japan’s Aya Ohori in the next round.

In men’s singles competition, Prannoy was made to sweat, for 61 minutes, by Hong Kong’s Hu Yun as he came from a game down to win 19-21, 21-17, 21-15. In the next round, the World No 10 has a chance to exact his revenge on Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai who beat the Indian in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier.

But it wasn't all good news for the Indian contingent in Hong Kong. Parupali Kashyap's stand in the tournament came to an end as he failed to cross his first hurdle in the main draw losing to Lee Dong Keun by a score of 21-15, 9-21, 20-22. Sourabh Verma, too, went down in the first round, losing to Tomy Sugiarto 15-21, 8-21. B Sai Praneeth’s journey also came to an abrupt end as he was ousted by second-seeded Son Wan Ho in straight games of 8-21, 16-21.

After losing the first game of their round 1 encounter, the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy showed some grit against the Chinese duo Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei but were knocked out after losing the match 11-21, 21-19, 19-21.

India’s hope in the men’s doubles also ended as Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy faced defeat at the hands of Khim Wah Lim of Malaysia and Yoo Yeon Seong of Korea 17-21, 17-21 in the opening round.