Pranaav-Sikki lose at Korea Open

India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy lost in the first round, while singles shuttler Parupalli Kashyap and another mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa qualified for the Korea Open Superseries here on Tuesday.

Pranaav and Sikki lost to Indonesian fourth seeds Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto 21-13, 19-21, 15-21 in 48 minutes.

The Satwik-Ashwini pair thrashed Germans Peter Kaesbauer and Olga Konon 21-12, 21-15 in 24 minutes in the first qualifying match.

In the second qualifying contest, the Indian pair got past Indonesians Ronald and Annisa Saufika 27-25, 21-17.

Kashyap too was successful in both the qualifying rounds. First he despatched Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Hsien 21-19, 21-9. He then defeated another Chinese Taipei challenger Kan Chao Yu 21-19 21-18 to enter the first round of the tournament.

On Wednesday, Kashyap will meet Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei.

Rio Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu will begin her campaign on Wednesday. In the absence of Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, all the eyes will be on Sindhu.

--IANS

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