The in-form world No 9 HS Prannoy made a solid start to his campaign at the Taipei Open Super 300, in Chinese Taipei on Wednesday. The third seed came up with a straight-forward 21-11, 21-10 win over home-player and qualifier Lin Yu Hsien to make it to the second round of the event.
Joining him in the pre-quarterfinal is former world No 6 Parupalli Kashyap who beat German qualifier Samuel Hsiao 21-15, 21-16.
Prannoy and Lin started relatively even with both shuttlers staying level on the score till 10-10. From that point though, the Indian won 11 of the next 12 points – including nine in a row to go up 19-10 – to claim the opening game.
In the second, Prannoy took a lead after being level at 2-2 and would not allow Lin to comeback into the match before sealing a spot in the second round. He next plays former world No 3 Tommy Sugiarto, who has dropped down to 95 in the current rankings.
There was also a win for Tanya Hemanth in the women’s singles Round of 32, as she beat Hungary’s Agnes Korosi 21-7, 21-17.
Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy also booked a spot in the second round of the mixed doubles event after a 21-14, 21-17 win over compatriots Bokka Navaneeth and Priya Konjengbam.
S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian however, lost 13-21, 5-21 to sixth seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan. Meiraba Luwang Maisnam also lost out in a close match to fifth seed Ng Ka Long Angus.
There was also a defeat in women’s singles for Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, who lost 12-21, 5-21 to Chiu Pin-Chian of Chinese Taipei.
Kiran George’s run also ended after a 20-22, 21-12, 9-21 loss to Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao. Sathish Kumar Karunakaran lost 10-21, 10-21 to Chi Yu Jen.
Aakarshi Kashyap also lost out in the first round of the women’s singles event, going down 21-10, 16-21, 11-21 to local player Huang Yu-Hsun.
In the last match of the day involving an Indian, Mithun Manjunath lost a tough contest to second seed Chou Tien Chen 18-21, 21-14, 16-21.
Here’s a look at the Indian results from Wednesday:
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!