Australian Open: Sindhu, Sameer cruise into second round

Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma cruised into the second round of the Australian Open at the Quaycentre in Sydney on Wednesday.

World number five Sindhu easily trounced Indonesia's Choirunnisa 21-14, 21-9 in women's singles event. The Indian shuttle queen has set up her meeting with Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol in the next round.

Sameer came from behind to outclass Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 21-15, 16-21, 21-12 in men's singles event. The sixth seed recovered in time after losing the second game to Lee, who defeated Sameer in the Sudirman Cup last month. The Indian will next take on Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei in the second round.

In other men's singles match, B. Sai Praneeth defeated Lee Dong-Keun of South Korea by 21-16, 21-14 and Parupalli Kashyap beat Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand by 21-16, 21-15.Praneeth will clash with Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, while Kashyap will meet Lin Dan of China. Elsewhere, Prannoy Kumar's campaign ended as he lost to Lin Dan of China 18-21, 19-21 in men's singles event.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also progressed into the second round of men's doubles event after defeating compatriot Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy 21-12, 21-16. The Indian duo will next clash with Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen.On the other hand, in women's doubles event, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy lost to South Korean pair of Baek Ha-na and Kim Hye-rin 14-21, 13-21.