Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy battled past recently crowned All England champions Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana to progress in the Swiss Open in Basel on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, second seed PV Sindhu, seventh seed Kidambi Srikanth, as well as HS Prannoy and Saina Nehwal made winning starts in the singles competition. Sindhu registered a 21-14, 21-12 win against Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark. The second seed will lead India’s charge on a busy Thursday.
Srikanth defeated Mads Christophersen in straight games in the men’s singles opening round. The Indian beat the Danish player 21-16, 21-17 in a match lasting 32 minutes.
Parupalli Kashyap, struggling to pick up wins on tour in recent times, registered a 21-17, 21-9 win over France’s Enogat Roy.
In an all-Indian battle, HS Prannoy was pushed in a marathon opening game by B Sai Praneeth but the former won 25-23, 21-16 in a tight contest lasting 48 minutes.
The young Indian pair, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who caught everyone’s attention last week by making the All England semifinals, were outplayed in the opening game but fought hard in the second game but eventually lost against second seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand in women’s doubles. India’s senior pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy moved into the second round, where they take on the scratch pair of Yvonne Li-Iris Wang, two singles players.
Third seeds Shetty and Rankireddy got past Indonesia’s Fikri and Maulana after losing the first game in the men’s doubles opening round. The final scoreline read 17-21, 21-11, 21-18. The Indonesian duo had won the All England title last week and started the match well, producing a superb run of points from 13-16 down in the opening game.
The Indian duo dominated the second half of the second game, going from 11-10 to 21-11. The third game was a titanic tussle with both pairs vying for supremacy. The Indians pushed ahead after trailing at the final change of ends but nearly squandered the advantage at the end, missing out on three match points before converting a fourth.
In the women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha scripted a come-from-behind win over France’s LéOnice Huet, prevailing 19-21, 21-10, 21-11. She will now take on a top 20 opponent in veteran Kirsty Gilmour. Later in the day, London Olympics bronze medallist Nehwal outplayed Yaelle Hoyaux 21-8, 21-13 in her opening round fixture. The mixed doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy lost their first round match.
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K were involved in a marathon match. England’s Rory Easton and Zach Russ won the first game after 58 points but eventually lost 30-28 14-21 18-21 against the Indians.
Here’s a look at the schedule of matches on Thursday:
Axelsen withdraws
World No 1 and All England champion Viktor Axelsen took to social media to announce that he’s being forced to withdraw from the Swiss Open since he was not feeling too well.
“In the end of my match yesterday I started feeling uncomfortable and after waking up this morning I’m still not feeling well. I had hoped I was able to recover and get ready to compete again today, however that isn’t the case,” Axelsen said in a post on Twitter.
“I’m really gutted about this as I really enjoy playing here in Switzerland and had been looking forward to see how I could do this week. The organisers are doing a great job trying to do the best for the sport here, so it makes me sad that I have to withdraw from my match today
“I will now take the days needed in order for me to recover before I start my training towards my next tournaments”
The Dane was scheduled to play India’s Kashyap, who will now receive a walkover from the second round.
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