Pratul, Harsheel, Gurusaidutt advance at Canada Open

Indian shuttlers had a bright start to their journey at the Canada Open as Pratul Joshi, Harsheel Dani and R.M.V. Gurusaidutt moved into the second round of the $55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Gurusaidutt came up with a scintillating display in his lung opener, breezing past Austria's Rüdiger Gnedt 21-7, 21-6 in just 18 minutes. He will next face local talent Jonathan Lai in another men's singles match.

Pratul also came out on top as he defeated Canada's Byron Holcek 21-13, 21-12 in 27 minutes without much sweat. He will lock horns with Alistair Casey of Scotland in the next round.

Harsheel was stupendous as well and easily skipped past the challenge of local shuttler Timothy Chiu 21-11, 21-14. However, the 19-year-old would not have to play in the second round as his opponent Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen has withdrawn.

Men's top seed Ajay Jayaram will start his campaign against Canada's Martin Giuffre and fourth seed B Sai Praneeth will play against Kan Chao Yu of Chinese Taipei.

Second seed HS Prannoy will square off against Sweden's Mattias Borg.

The mixed doubles pair of Manu Attri and Ashwini Ponnappa will compete against local pair of Byron Holcek and Erin O'Donoghue.

In the women's singles event, Tanvi Lad will face off against Julie Finne-Ipsen of Denmark, while 2015 National Champion Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will play Canada's Kyleigh O'Donoghue.

--IANS

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