Shuttler Pawar enters Round 3 in New Zealand Open

Indian shuttler Anand Pawar won two matches to enter the men's singles third round at the $120,000 New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold here on Wednesday.

In their first encounter, the 11th seed beat Malaysia's Zulhelmi Zulkiffli 21-11, 21-17 in 31 minutes in the second round at the North Shore Events Centre. He had earlier beaten local player Joshua Curry 21-5, 21-9 in only 17 minutes in the opener.

Mumbai shuttler Pawar faces a tough test next up as he will take on South Korean third seed Lee Hyun Il for a place in the quarterfinals.

Later, Malaysian duo of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh took care of Tarun Kona and N. Sikki Reddy in a 23-minute match. The Indian mixed doubles pair lost 14-21, 8-21 in the opening round.

However, New Zealand-India combine of Abhinav Manota and Rachita Sahdev came good to beat Australian pair Daniel Guda and Joy Lai 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 in 35 minutes to enter the second round.