Mixed day for Indian shuttlers at Australia Open

It was a mixed day for Indian shuttlers as defending champion Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and B. Sai Praneeth advanced while Parupalli Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram and H.S. Prannoy bowed out of the $750,000 Australia Open Superseries here on Wednesday.

World No.15 Saina defeated fourth-ranked South Korean player Sung Ji Hyun 21-10, 21-16 in a match which lasted only 38 minutes. In another match, Rio Olympics gold medallist Sindhu edged past Japanese Sayaka Sato 21-17, 14-21, 21-18 in a 65 minutes gruelling match.

In men's singles category, 14th-ranked Praneeth came back from one set down to oust Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 10-21, 21-12, 21-10 in 47 minutes while Guntur player Srikanth comfortably brushed aside Kan Chao Yu of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 21-16 in just 27 minutes.

Among other shuttlers, Jayaram was eliminated by Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 21-14, 10-21, 9-21 in a match that lasted around 42 minutes. Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of the tournament, going down to top seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea 18-21, 21-14, 15-21 in a match that was very competitive for its entire duration of 65 minutes.

Prannoy also put up a dismal performance and bowed out of the meet. The Indian shuttler was defeated by Rajiv Ouseph of England 19-21, 13-21 in a 37 minute match.

In the mixed doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa were defeated by Hong Kong's Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Hoi Wah 13-21, 17-21.

In men's doubles, the Indian duo of Francis Alwin and Kona Tarun was also eliminated by Indonesia-Malaysia pair of Hendra Setiawan and Boon Heong Tan 17-21, 15-21 in a lop-sided match. Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy were also beaten by Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 20-22, 6-21 in a 34 minute match.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Reddy N. Sikki brought some good news in the women's doubles category defeating the Australian pair of Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen and Jennifer Tam 21-11, 21-13 in 29 minute match.

--IANS

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