Ningbo (China): A valiant H S Prannoy rallied his way to a morale-boosting three-game win over China's Lu Guang Zu as he and double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships here on Wednesday.
World No. 9 Prannoy showed exemplary mental fortitude as he battled for 90 minutes before prevailing 17-21 23-21 23-21 over Lu, ranked 16th, to set up a second-round clash with Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi.
Double Olympic medallist Sindhu survived some tense moments before progressing to the women's singles second round, but it was curtains for Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth in men's singles.
Sindhu, who is desperately seeking to rediscover her form ahead of the Paris Olympics, almost blew away a five-point advantage in the decider before managing a gritty 18-21, 21-14, 21-19 win against world No. 33 Goh Jin Wei.
Sindhu had lost to her Malaysian opponent the last time they meet in Sudirman Cup though the Indian has a 4-1 record against her.
Next up for Sindhu is China's Han Yue, against whom the Indian has a flawless 5-0 record.
It was, however, a difficult day for Olympic-bound Sen, who lost 19-21,15-21 to home favourite and top seed Shi Yu Qi, and Srikanth, who suffered a 14-21, 13-21 loss to Indonesia's Anthony Ginting in the opening round.
Talented Priyanshu Rajawat also crashed out in the men's singles opening round.
Rajawat was no match for eight-seeded Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, losing 9-21, 13-21 in 39 minutes.
It was also curtains for the Panda sisters -- Rutuparna and Swetaparna -- in the opening round of women's doubles, losing 8-21, 13-21 to seventh seeds Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu W of China.
M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila too were left heartbroken after losing 21-23, 21-19, 24-26 to seventh-seeded Chinese pair of Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down 2-21, 11-21 to fourth-seeded Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in women's doubles opener to end their slim Paris Olympics qualification hopes.
Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap too faltered in the opening hurdle, losing to Korea's Sim Yu Jin and Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan respectively.
