HS Prannoy, Aakarshi Kashyap were among the Indian shuttlers who entered the second round at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Prannoy went through after registering a straight-game win over Ukraine’s Danylo Bosniuk. On a comeback trail, the fifth seeded player from India who is effectively the top seed now, took just 36 minutes to get the better of Bosniuk 21-14 21-18 in his opening clash.
A former top-10 player, Prannoy, who gave a good account of himself before being stopped by 20-year-old Lakshya Sen in the quarterfinals of the India Open last week, will next meet compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat, who got a first round walkover from Rahul Yadav Chittaboina.
However, the tournament was over for fourth seed Sameer Verma after he retired hurt against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. Sameer was trailing 2-7 in the first game before he decided to concede the match due to a calf muscle injury according to PTI, which he had sustained in October last year. He had withdrawn mid-match from his match at India Open last week as well. Subhankar Dey also conceded his match against compatriot Kartikey Gulshan Kumar due to an injury when he was trailing 2-9 in the opening game.
Another upset result was that of seventh seed Sourabh Verma who lost to the world No 76 from Azerbaijan.
In women’s singles category, Ashmita Chaliha gave a first round walkover to Malvika Bansod, while Aakarshi Kashyap defeated Mugdha Agrey 21-13 21-14. Kashyap, who was a semifinalist in Delhi at India Open and has made a significant jump in the rankings is heading for a potential rematch with Bansod in the quarterfinals this week.
One of the most impressive results was Anupama Upadhyaya’s win over former national champion Rituparna Das. The 16-year-old, who had taken a game against Yeo Jia Min in Delhi, eased past the experienced Das 21-7 21-10 in just 21 minutes.
In doubles categories, Dhruv Rawat-Shikha Gautam, MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad G-Vishnuvardhan Panjala, Ishaan Bhatnagar-Sai Pratheek were among the winners.
Full results of the day are available here.
Two-time Olympic medallist and top seed PV Sindhu will open her campaign against compatriot Tanya Hemanth on Wednesday. Sindhu was originally meant to play on Tuesday, but as per communication from the tournament’s organisers, the match had to rescheduled due to a pending RT-PCR report for her opponent. The organising secretary also confirmed that Ashimita and men’s singles player Rahul Yadav Chittaboina were among four who were withdrawn due to a Covid-19 positive test.
London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, recent India Open winners Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty, former world No 1 Srikanth Kidambi are among the withdrawals from the event.
Screenshots courtesy Tournament software.
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