Sindhu, Saina, Prannoy advance at Hong Kong Open

Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and H.S. Prannoy advanced to the second round while Parupalli Kashyap and the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy fell in the opening round of the Hong Kong Open Superseries on Wednesday.

While second seed Sindhu eased past Hong Kong's qualifier Leung Yuet Yee 21-18, 21-10, Saina registered a hard-fought 21-19, 23-21 win over Denmark's Mette Poulsen.

In the next round, Nehwal will face Chen Yufei of China while Sindhu will face Aya Ohori of Japan.

In the men's singles, Prannoy moved into the second round after a 19-21, 21-17, 21-15 win in an hour and one minute over Hong Kong's Hu Yun. He will now take on Japanese shuttler Kazumasa Sakai.

Kashyap lost 21-15, 9-21, 20-22 to South Korean Lee Dong Keun in an hour and nine minutes.

Sourabh Verma and B. Sai Praneeth too exited the competition, losing to their respective opponents.

Verma lost to Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto 15-21, 8-21 in 30 minutes while Praneeth lost to second seed Son Wan Ho of Japan 8-21, 16-21.

The women's doubles pair of Ashwini and Sikki fought hard but couldn't prevent China's Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei from advancing to the next round. The Chinese won 21-11, 19-21, 21-19 in 55 minutes.

Later in the day, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy will face Malaysia-Korea duo of Khim Wah Lim Yoo Yeon Seong in men's doubles category.

--IANS

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