Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold: Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Verma brothers move into second round

Lucknow: Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from fellow Indian Lakhanee Sarang to reach the men’s singles second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Third seed Srikanth, who is coming back after recovering from an ankle injury, saw off Lakhanee 15-21 21-7 21-14 in his opening match and will take on Malaysia’s Zulhelmi Zulkiffli later in the day.

Among other Indians in men’s singles, HS Prannoy, Verma brothers – Sourabh and Sameer – and B Sai Praneeth also reached the second round.

While 2016 Swiss Open winner, Prannoy, seeded sixth, who has been in rampaging form at the Premier Badminton League (PBL), brushed aside NVS Vijetha 21-11 21-9, Praneeth, seeded ninth, beat Aditya Joshi 21-14 21-9.

Chinese Taipei champion Sourabh, the 11th seed, dispatched Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 21-11 21-17 and Sameer Verma, the eighth seed, emerged winner after Kartik Jindal conceded the match due to an injury when he was trailing 1-5.

Among other seeded shuttlers, World No 15 Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, the second seed, beat India’s Munawar Mohammed 21-11 21-12, while another Danish player Anders Antonsen, the fifth seed, beat Kiran George 21-9 21-18.

Malaysia’s Zulkiffli, seeded seventh, defeated Sachin Rawat 21-15 21-10 and Israel’s 13th seed Misha Zilberman prevailed 21-15 21-16 over Shreyansh Jaiswal, the 12th seed. Emil Holst also beat Hemanth M Gowda 19-21 21-11 21-10.

Among other notable names, Harsheel Dani, Chirag Sen, Pratul Joshi also reached the second round.

In women’s singles, Polish Open winner Rituparna Das spanked Nepal’s Nangsal Tamang 21-5 21-6 and will take on eighth seed Russian Ksenia Polikarpova, who beat India’s Riya Pillai 21-12 21-11.

Among others, Spain’s Beatriz Corrales, the third seed, beat India’s Reshma Karthik 21-17 21-13, while sixth seeded Indonesian Hanna Ramadini trounced Indian Preethi Konadam 21-9 21-6.

In men’s doubles, India’s Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy had to toil hard before getting past Singapore’s Yong Kai Terry Hee and Kean Hean Loh 15-21 25-23 21-14 in the opening match.

Top seeds Mathais Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark fought back from a game down to beat the young Indian pair of Satwik Reddy and Chirag Shetty 22-24 21-14 21-14 in a thrilling game.

Denmark’s second seeds Mathias Christiansen and David Daugaard beat Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila 21-18 21-14.

The Indonesian-Malaysian pair of Hendra Setiawan and Boon Heong Tan, seeded fifth, fourth seeds Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Belgium’s Matjis Dierickx and Freek Golinski, Singaporean sixth seeds Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya, Russia’s Evgenij Dremin and Denis Grachev, Chinese Taipei’s eighth seeds LU Ching Yao and Yang Po Han also reached the second round in men’s doubles.

In women’s doubles, Indian pairs of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant and Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy reached the second round, while second seed Malaysian pair of Mei Kuan Chow and Lee Meng Yean also made it to the next round.

Top seeds Denmark’s Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen will play their first match in the quarter-finals as they have received walkovers in the earlier rounds.

In mixed doubles, Indo-Malaysian eight seed pair of Yogendran Khrishnan and Prajakta beat Kashish Sharma and Jagriti Nashier 21-13 17-21 21-11.