Shreyansh Jaiswal, ranked 217, hogged the spotlight on the opening day of the $120,000 Syed Modi International Grand Prix, sending World No.21 and sixth seed Ajay Jayaram packing. An aggressive Jaiswal beat an error-prone Ajay 21-18, 15-21, 21-15
Following a series of unexpected results across all five events on Wednesday, P.V. Sindhu remained the lone Indian in the women’s pre-quarterfinals while top seed K. Srikanth and title-holder P. Kashyap were joined by gate-crashers Harsheel Dani and Jaiswal in the men’s round-of-16.
Kashyap squandered seven match-points in the second game before beating Singapore’s Zi Liang Wong Derek 21-14, 26-28, 21-17. The 178th-ranked Dani, who dramatically lost nine points on the trot to let 16th seed B. Sai Praneeth take the opening game, got his act together in the remaining two games.
Sameer Verma led 14-8 and 15-12 in the decider before losing to 76th ranked Huang Yuxiang. The 66th-ranked Anand Pawar went down to World No.141 Zhu Siyuang.
Earlier, Gurusaidutt crashed to his third straight defeat and fourth in six meetings to Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin. Runner-up at the Malaysia Masters on Sunday, Iskandar won 21-10, 21-17.
The home challenge in doubles met an expected fate. On the brighter side, the women’s duo of G. Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa cruised to the round-of-16.
Important results:Men: Second round: K. Srikanth bt Joo Ven Soong (Mal) 21-18, 21-14; Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Ajay Jayaram 21-18, 15-21, 21-15; Boonsak Ponsana (Tha) bt Pratul Joshi 11-21, 21-13, 21-16; P. Kashyap bt Wong Zi Liang Derek (Sin) 21-14, 26-28, 21-17; Huang Yuxiang (Chn) bt Sameer Verma 19-21, 21-12, 21-17; Zhu Siyuan (Chn) bt Anand Pawar 20-22, 21-12, 21-16; Harsheel Dani bt B. Sai Praneeth 14-21, 21-17, 21-16; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Sourabh Varma 21-12, 21-23, 21-12; Giap Chin Goh (Mal) bt Aditya Joshi 17-21, 21-16, 21-17. First round: Huang Yuxiang (Chn) bt H. S. Prannoy 21-12, 21-17; Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (Mal) bt R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 21-10, 21-17; Zhu Siyuan (Chn) bt Takuma Ueda (Jpn) 21-14, 21-14.
Doubles: First round: Ko Sung Hyun & Shin Baek Cheol (Kor) bt Manu Attri & B. Sumeeth Reddy 21-18, 21-16; Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda (Jpn) bt Li Junhui & Liu Yuchen (Chn) 16-21, 21-19, 23-21.
Women: First round: Iris Wang (Mal) bt Bae Yeon Ju (Tpe) 21-15, 16-21, 21-15; Busanan Ongbumrungphan (Tha) bt P.C. Thulasi 21-14, 21-23, 21-19; Sung Ji Hyun (Kor) bt Tanvi Lad 21-9, 21-6; P.V. Sindhu bt Riya Mukherjee 21-6, 21-7. Doubles: First round: G. Jwala & Ashwini Ponnappa bt Heather Olver & Lauren Smith (Eng) 21-6, 21-14; Puttita Supajirakul & Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Vivian Kah Mun Hoo & Khe Wei Woon (Mal) 21-18, 16-21, 21-13; Jongkolphan Kititharakul & Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) bt Gabriela Stoeva & Stefani Stoeva (Rus) 21-13, 21-8.
Mixed doubles: First round: Kenta Kazuno & Ayane Kurihara (Jpn) bt Manu Attri & Ashwini Ponnappa 15-21, 21-12, 21-11.
