Srikanth, Kashyap, Jwala-Ashwini reach 2nd round in Singapore

Top Indian shuttler K Srikhanth scored a hard-fought victory while Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap registered an easy win in the men's singles to enter the second round of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament here today.
World number four Srikanth, who won the India Open Super Series title recently and seeded third in the tournament, met stiff resistance from Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, ranked 28th in the world, before emerging 21-18 19-21 21-14 winner in the 51-minute first round match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
In the second round, Srikanth will meet Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk who beat Marc Zwiebler of Germany 21-19 17-21 21-12 in the first round.

Kashyap, who won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January this year, however, brushed aside Korea's Lee Hyun Il 21-11 21-13 to set up a match with fourth seed Son Wan Ho of Korea in the second round.
Indonesia Masters champion Prannoy also advanced to the second round after beating Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-15 21-17 in another men's singles match.
Former world championship bronze medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa got the better of Korean combo of Go Ah Ra and Yoo Hae Won 21-12 21-16 to reach the second round of women's doubles competition.

However, it was curtains for R M V Gurusaidutt and B Sai Praneeth after they suffered defeats in the opening round of the men's singles while P C Thulasi also met with the same fate in women's singles.
Gurusaidutt squandered a first-game advantage to go down fighting 21-16 12-21 15-21 to Son Wan Ho, while Sai Praneeth lost to second seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 11-21 18-21. Thulasi, meanwhile, was outclassed by Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 16-21 14-21 in a 35-minute match.
India's mixed doubles combo of Tarun Kona and N Sikki Reddy, too, could not cross the first hurdle, going down 15-21 17-21 to fifth seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na of Korea.