Korea Open | PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap, Sai Praneeth enter second round
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World No. 4, PV Sindhu, Singapore Open champion Sai Praneeth, and US Open finalist Parupalli Kashyap have recorded victories in their first-round encounters at the Korea Open Superseries. HS Prannoy, however, failed to cross the first hurdle as he went down to NG Ka Long Angus in three games.
BWF World Championship silver medalist Sindhu hardly broke a sweat in her 21-13, 21-8 win over Hong Kong’s Ngan Yi Cheung in a match that lasted only 33 minutes. The Rio Olympics silver medalist will meet Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol in the second round.
Kashyap, who played two rounds of qualifying matches to enter the main draw, also secured a straightforward 21-13, 21-16 win over Chinese Taipei’s HSU Jen Hao and will next lock horns with South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho in the next round. Sai Praneeth took only 28 minutes to get the better off Hong Kong’s Hu Yun 21-15, 21-10.
While all the aforementioned Indians had an easy day out in Seoul, HS Prannoy, who was unseeded for the tournament, was pitted against the sixth seed Angus in the first round itself. Although the 25-year-old gave the Malaysia Masters winner a tough fight in the first two games, he failed to kept his nerves in the third game and went down 21-17, 21-23, 21-14 in one hour and five minutes.
Apart from Prannoy, two other matches involving Indian men also went to three games, but each of the game gave contrasting results. While Sameer Verma upset eighth seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand, winning the match 21-13, 21-23, 21-9 in 55 minutes, Sourabh Verma was ousted by Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 18-21, 21-13, 21-19 in 63 minutes.
In men’s doubles, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty edged past Chinese Taipei’s Sheng Mu Lee and Chia Yu Lin 21-9 22-24 21-12 in a 50-min contest. Satwik, however, lost his mixed doubles first-round tie with Ashwini Ponappa as the duo lost to Hong Kong’s Chun Man Tang and Ying Suet Tse 21-18, 21-19.
In another men’s doubles encounter,
