Prannoy enters second round of Syed Modi badminton, Sourabh stunned

Lucknow, Jan 18: India’s HS Prannoy entered the second round of the men’s singles competition at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament after registering a straight-game win over Ukraine’s Danylo Bosniuk but seventh seed Sourabh Verma was stunned by Azerbaijan’s Ade Resky Dwicahyo here on Tuesday.

On a comeback trail, the fifth seeded Prannoy took just 36 minutes to get the better of Bosniuk 21-14 21-18 in his opening match.

A former top-10 player, Prannoy, who gave a good account of himself before being stopped by 20-year-old Lakshya Sen in the quarterfinals of the India Open last week, will next meet compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat, who got a first round walkover from Rahul Yadav Chittaboina.

However, the tournament was over for fourth seed Sameer Verma after he retired hurt against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen.

Sameer was trailing 2-7 in the first game before he decided to concede the match due to a calf muscle injury, which he had sustained in October last year.

Subhankar Dey also conceded his match against compatriot Kartikey Gulshan Kumar due to an injury when he was trailing 2-9 in the opening game.

Later in the day, Sourabh suffered a 15-21 21-19 21-18 first-round defeat to Dwicahyo in a match that lasted one hour and seven minutes.

Among women, Ashmita Chaliha gave a first round walkover to Malvika Bansod, while Aakarshi Kashyap defeated Mugdha Agrey 21-13 21-14 and Anupama Upadhyaya eased past Rituparna Das.

In the men’s doubles, Tushar Sharma and Vinay Kumar Singh beat the French pair of Fabien Delrue and William Villeger 21-8 21-13 in 28 minutes.

In mixed doubles, Siddharth Jakhar and Megha Morchana Bora defeated compatriots Ashith Surya and Pranjal Prabhu Chimulkar 21-14 22-20 in 32 minutes.

In another men’s doubles match, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila got the better of Norway’s Torjus Flaatten and Vegard Rikheim 23-21 21-19 in 36 minutes.

Two-time Olympic medallist and top seed PV Sindhu will open her campaign against compatriot Tanya Hemanth on Wednesday. (PTI)