Gutta, Ponappa pair in 2nd rd of Korea Open Superseries

Top Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa began their new season on a winning note as they entered the second round of the USD 600,000 Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament here today.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist duo thrashed New Zealand pair of Anna Rankin and Madeleine Stapleton 21-10 21-7 in just 19 minutes at the S K Handball Stadium.
They, however, have a tough task ahead of them as they face local third seeds Ye Na Jang and So Young Kim tomorrow.
Ashwini then paired with Tarun Kona in mixed doubles and notched up a straight-game win over Germans Johannes Schoettler and Johanna Goliszewski. The Indian pair won 22-20, 21-17 in 34 minutes and will face another German combine -- seventh seeds Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels -- in second round.

However, Indian singles shuttlers suffered disappointing first round losses.
Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold winner Kidambi Srikanth, who was also crowned the national champion in New Delhi in December, lost to Japanese fifth seed Kenichi Tago 10-21, 11-21 in 36 minutes.
R M V Gurusaidutt lost his match to another Japanese, Takuma Ueda in 34 minutes 11-21, 11-21.