Prannoy, Kashyap advance; Jayaram bows out of New Zealand Open

Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap stormed into the second round of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold after winning their respective opening rounds of the men's singles event here on Tuesday.

Fourth-seed Prannoy, who recently clinched US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament title, swept aside Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito to post a comfortable 21-14, 21-16 win in a one-sided clash that lasted 36 minutes.

Kashyap, on the other hand, took just 22 minutes to ease past Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 21-5, 21-10 and make progress.

Prannoy will now lock horns with Indonesia's Firman Abdul Kholik while Kashyap will cross swords with local shuttler Oscar Guo on Wednesday.

Ajay Jayaram, another Indian in the fray, suffered a major setback as he got knocked out of the ongoing tournament after going down in straight games against Chia Hung Lu of Chinese Taipei.

The second-seed suffered a 19-21, 13-21 defeat to Hung Lu in the first round of men's singles event that lasted almost half an hour.