Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap entered the main draw of the Malaysia Masters 2019 after defeating Vladimir Malkov of Russia 21-12 21-17 in straight games in the men’s singles qualification round in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
Kashyap will take on Rasmus Gemke from Denmark in the opening round of the BWF World Tour Super 500 event at the Axiata Arena on Wednesday.
But it was curtains for Subhankar Dey as he lost 18-21 13-21 to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in another men’s singles qualification match.
Indian women shuttlers, Rituparna Das and Mughda Agrey, too bowed out in the qualification round.
While Rituparna lost 13-21 24-26 to Indonesia’s Ruselli Hartawan, her compatriot Mugdha was shown the door 17-21 21-18 19-21 by Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet.
In the women’s singles opening round on Wednesday, Saina Nehwal, seeded seventh, will be up against Xuan Deng Joy of Hong Kong. K Srikanth, also seeded seventh, would hope continue his unbeaten run from the Premier Badminton League when he takes on Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus in his season-opener on Wednesday.
Commonwealth Games silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look for a positive start too when they face China’s Ou Xuanyi and Ren Xiangyu.
In women’s doubles, CWG bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will meet Hong Kong’s Ng Tsz Yau and Yuen Sin Ying, while the mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini square off against English pair of Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh.
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