Indians off to good start at US Open badminton

Indian shuttlers, including H.S. Prannoy, B. Sai Praneeth and R.M.V Gurusaidutt, had a good day at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.

However, Harsheel Dani failed to win his opening match, losing out to Misha Zilberman of Israel 18-21, 18-21 on Tuesday.

Praneeth, who is on a high after winning the single's title at the recently concluded Canada Open Grand Prix, breezed past his Swedish rival Henri Hurskainen in only 29 minutes. Hurskainen could not put up much of a fight in the opener as Praneeth pocketed it 21-13.

In the next game, it was all square till 12-12 and just when it looked like the Swedish shuttler had grabbed the momentum, Praneeth brought out his 'A' game to clinch it 21-12.

Praneeth will now face Canada's B.R. Sankeerth in the next round.

Prannoy had a cakewalk in his lung opener. He defeated local talent Calvin Lin 21-7, 21-6. The only resistance Calvin could show was in the second game when both shuttlers were locked at 3-3. The Indian youngster took just 20 minutes to seal the deal. Prannoy will now lock horns against Joshua Magee of Ireland.

In another men's singles tie, India's Pratul Joshi came out on top against Kevin Barkman of Canada 21-13, 21-13.

From the very outset, Pratul did not let Barkman settle down and held on to the lead in both games and brought the shutters down after a mere 23 minutes.

Gurusaidutt was brutal on his opponent Phillips Jap of the United States as he won with a scoreline of 21-8, 21-13.

Jap did not stand a chance against the higher ranked Indian and Gurusaidutt made sure he did not have any hiccups on the way.

Anand Pawar also cruised past the challenge of Denmark's Peder Sovndal. The Indian needed just 17 minutes to grab a 21-7, 21-7 win.

Meanwhile, Ajay Jayaram got a walkover against Joachim Persson.

--IANS

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