Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 12: With contrasting victories on Wednesday, top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Lakshya Sen, and HS Prannoy advanced to the second round of the India Open. Saina, who missed a number of events last year owing to ailments, advanced to the second round after her first-round opponent Tereza Svabikova of the Czech Republic sustained a back injury and retired midway through the match, behind 20-22 0-1.
“Playing after so long gives you the match confidence, how to pull out those points, because in practice you don’t have the privilege to play points with the same intensity as you do in tournaments. The quality of some of the points I got today…I hope it somehow helps me tomorrow,” Saina said after her match.
Saina, who is seeded fourth, will face fellow Indian Malvika Bansod, who defeated Samiya Imad Farooqui 21-18 21-9 in another women’s singles match.
In men’s singles, eighth seed Prannoy, a former world number ten player, defeated Spain’s Pablo Abian 21-14 21-7 and will now face Mithun Manjunath, who defeated France’s Arnaud Merkle 21-16 15-21 21-10.
Sen, the third seed, defeated Egypt’s Adham Hatem Elgamal 21-15 21-7 to set up a match with Sweden’s Felix Burestedt, who won bronze at the world championships on debut last month.
Seeded second, Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy advanced to the second round after defeating compatriots Janani Ananthakumar and Divya R. Balasubramanian 21-7 19-21 21-13.
Aakarshi Kashyap defeated compatriot Anura Prabhudesai 21-14 21-14, while Rahul Yadav Chittaboina had a walkover following the withdrawal of Spain’s Lus Enrique Penalver.
Kashyap will face Keyura Mopati, who has been promoted from the reserve squad. Smit Toshniwal, a fellow Indian, was defeated by Mopati 15-21 21-19 21-8. Rahul will face Nhat Nguyen of Ireland, who defeated Ajay Jayaram 19-21, 21-7, 21-14 in another men’s singles match.
In another women’s singles match, Tanya Hemanth defeated Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka 9-21 21-12 21-19.
On Tuesday, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Sameer Verma advanced to the second round.
