Sindhu, Praneeth advance; Sumeeth-Ashwini lose at Badminton Worlds

India's P.V. Sindhu, B. Sai Praneeth, Ajay Jayaram and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy advanced but the mixed doubles pairing of B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost in the second round of the World Badminton Championships here on Tuesday.

Fourth seed Sindhu, a two-time World Championships bronze medallist, moved past South Korean world No.44 Kim Hyo Min 21-16, 21-14 in 49 minutes.

"It was a good match and I was happy with the way I played. I think after Rio Olympics, I am better prepared for big events than before," Sindhu said in a release.

Sindhu, the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist, will take on the winner of the match between Cheung Ngan Yi of Taipei and Evgeniya Kosetskaya in her next round.

Praneeth got the better of Hong Kong's Wei Nan 21-18, 21-17, while Jayaram crushed Austrian Luka Wraber 21-14, 21-12 in 31 minutes.

"I was finding it difficult initially as he was playing very fast, but slowly adjusted to his pace," Praneeth said after the match.

"I must admit that I was a little under pressure coming into the match as there is a lot expected from us and everyone follows badminton these days," he further added.

In the mixed doubles competitions, Sumeeth-Ashwini lost to Chinese 13th seed Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 17-21, 21-18, 5-21 in 58 minutes.

The pair of Pranaav and Sikki brushed aside Malaysian Yogendran Khrishnan and Indian Prajakta Sawant 21-12, 21-19 in 40 minutes.

Pranaav-Sikki will take on the Indonesian pair of Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto in the next round.

Sikki also advanced in the doubles competition, partnering Ashwini as they won over the Indonesian-Malaysian combine of Ririn Amelia and Anna Ching Yik Cheong 21-15, 21-13.

Another mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and K. Maneesha too exited the competition with a 20-22, 18-21 loss to Danish 14th seed Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen.

Satwik also lost in the men's doubles category. He and Chirag Shetty fell to Japan's Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanbe 8-21, 12-21 in 32 minutes.

Olympic 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, seeded 12th, got a bye in her first round and will start her campaign on Wednesday against Swiss Sabrina Jaquet.

--IANS

pur/bg