Sai, Thulasi & Arundhati cross first qualifier in Singapore

Rising shuttlers Sai Praneeth, P C Thulasi and Arundhati Pantawane reached the second stage of the qualifying round of the Singapore Super Series at Singapore Indoor Stadium here today.
Praneeth packed off former All England Champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia 21-13 21-15 in the opening round of men's singles qualifier in 26 minutes.
The 20-year-old from Hyderabad will next take on the winner between Indonesia's Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo and Japan's Riichi Takeshita.
H S Prannoy and Arvind Bhat, however, could not cross the first hurdle after suffering defeats in their respective men's singles qualifiers. While Prannoy lost 21-19 19-21 12-21 to Yong Zhao Ashton Chen of Singapore, Arvind went down 21-19 9-21 15-21 to Hong Kong's Nan Wei.

In women's singles qualifiers, Arundhati Pantawane thrashed Russian Anna Astrakhantseva 21-5 21-10 in just 17 minutes, while Thulasi went past Vietnam's Thi Trang (B) Vu 21-18 21-17 in 39 minutes.
Arundhati will next face local player Xiaoyu Liang and Thulasi will take on the winner of Chochuwong Pornpawee and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria.
New Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Prajakta Sawant lost to Singaporean combo of Wei Han Tan and Dellis Yuliana 22-20 21-12 in a 27-minute contest.
Prajakta, who plays with Mohd Razif Abdul Latif of Malaysia in the mixed doubles category, lost 16-21 20-22 to Singaporean combo of Zhao Jiang Terry Yeo and Lei Yao.