India Open: Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu crash out
Kiran George is the only Indian to survive in men's singles.
Kiran George is the only Indian to survive in men's singles.
Kiran George is the only Indian to survive in men's singles.
New Delhi: On a day when Indian men's players squandered their home advantage, former national champion Anupama Upadhyaya in singles, and the doubles duo of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the second round India Open.
Kiran George was the only Indian to survive in men's singles as Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, and HS Prannoy all suffered contrasting defeats.
In women's singles, Anupama joined PV Sindhu in the second round of the $9,50,000 Super 750 tournament, defeating her fellow Gopichand Academy trainee Rakshitha Sree 21-17, 21-18.
The 19-year-old from Almora will now face former world junior champion and sixth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan.
In men's singles, Priyanshu put up a valiant fight before succumbing 16-21, 22-20, 13-21 to world number 7 Kodai Naraoka of Japan in a physical battle that lasted an hour and 22 minutes. Prannoy lost to Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 18-21, 12-21 on the adjacent court.
Lakshya, who won the Syed Modi International Super 300 title last month, sunk to a 15-21 10-21 loss to Chinese Taipei's Chun Yi-Lin in another opening-round match.
Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who clinched the Guwahati Masters title last month, eased past Kavya Gupta and Radhika Sharma 21-11, 21-12 to advance to the second round.
World No 1 and Olympic champion Korea's An Se Young made a solid start to her campaign, beating Chinese Taipei's Chiu Pin-Chian 22-20, 21-15, while double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen registered a 16-21, 21-11, 21-13 win over Yu Jen Chi, also from Taipei.