Badminton: Jayaram, Praneeth, Gurusaidutt enter pre-quarters of US Open

Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, RMV Gurusaidutt and Sai Praneeth entered the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s singles event at the USD 120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after victories over their respective opponents in New York.

While 14th seed Jayaram defeated Czech Republic’s Jan Frohlich 21-9, 21-7, 16th seed Praneeth rallied from one game down to beat Christian Lind Thomsen of Denmark 13-21, 21-9, 21-10 in second round matches at the Suffolk County Community College ground.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Gurusaidutt defeated compatriot Anand Pawar 18-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a closely-fought match, also to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

Jayaram now runs into top seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, while Praneeth is up against Huang Yuxiang of China. Gurusaidutt will take on ninth seed Takuma Ueda of Japan.

Meanwhile, women’s doubles fourth seeds Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a 21-16, 21-14 straight-game win over Japanese pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara in 29 minutes to enter the to the pre-quarterfinals.

In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy defeated compatriots K Dilshad and Tarun Kona 21-16, 21-9 in 21 minutes to also advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

However, India’s campaign in women’s singles ended as Saili Rane and P C Thulasi lost their opening round matches. While Saili went down to Japan’s Yui Hashimoto 17-21, 11-21 in 35 minutes, Thulasi lost 15-21, 6-21 to another Japanese Sayaka Sato.

Chinese Taipei’s Lu Chia Pin and Chia Hsin Lee beat Kona and N Sikki Reddy 21-18, 21-16 in mixed doubles first round.

PTI