SYDNEY, June 7:
India shuttler R M V Gurusaidutt today qualified for the main draw of the USD 750,000 Australian Open superseries badminton tournament with easy victories in his qualifying matches here.
In his first match of the day, world No. 89 Gurusaidutt defeated a local challenger Michael Fariman 21-7 21-14 in 33 minutes to advance to the second qualifying round, in which he got the better of Malaysian Jiann Shiarng Chiang 21-16 21-12 in a contest that lasted 30 minutes.
Gurusaidutt has now joined other Indian men’s singles players in Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma in the main draw of the tournament.
In the first round of the main draw, Gurusaidutt will face world No.14 Hu Yun of Hong Kong, while World No.12 Srikanth will take on another player from Hong Kong — NG Ka Long Angus, ranked 11th in the world.
Sameer, meanwhile, will open his campaign against Japanese qualifier Takuma Ueda.
In the women’s singles category, India’s top shuttlers — world No.8 Saina Nehwal and No.10 P V Sindhu — will also open their campaigns tomorrow.
While Saina will clash with Australia’s Joy Lai, Sindhu will take on Kim Hyo Min of South Korea. Another Indian, Tanvi Lad, ranked 89th, will be up against qualifier Tiffany Ho of Australia.
Saina, who had won the Australian Open title in 2014, will be looking to regain the trophy.
In the men’s doubles competition, Nikhar Garg and M Anilkumar Raju will meet Malaysian eighth seeds V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan in their opening match. (PTI)
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