Syed Modi GPG: Srikanth, Sindhu enter pre-quarters; Ajay Jayaram crashes out
Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu entered the pre-quarters of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship at Lucknow on Wednesday after registering comfortable victories in the opening round. However, HS Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram crashed out of the tournament after losing to unseeded opponents.
In the Men’s Singles, top seed Kidambi Srikanth thrashed Vatannejad-Soroush Eskandari of Iran 21-4, 21-10 in the first round before defeating Malaysian shuttler Joo Ven Soong 21-18, 21-14 in the second round to enter the pre-quarters.
Fourth seed Parupalli Kashyap also joined his compatriot in the pre-quarters beating Derek Wong Zi Liang of Singapore 21-14, 26-28, 21-17 in a tight contest.
However, fifth seed HS Prannoy and sixth seed Ajay Jayaram crashed out of the tournament in first and second rounds respectively. Prannoy lost in straight sets to China's Huang Yuxiang in the opening round 12-21, 17-21, while Ajay Jayaram suffered a shock exit losing to unseeded Shreyansh Jaiswal 18-21, 21-15, 15-21 in the second round.
In the Women’s Singles, PV Sindhu made a good start to the tournament defeating qualifier Riya Mukherjee 21-6, 21-7 in the opening round to enter the pre-quarters.
In the Women’s Doubles, sixth seeded pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated England’s Heather Olver and Lauren Smith 21-6, 21-14 to enter the second round of the competition.