Verma, Sai Praneeth progress; Jayram, Bhatt make early exit

Indian shuttlers Sourav Verma and B Sai Praneeth lived upto their billing and comfortably progressed to the second round of the men's singles event even as compatriots Ajay Jayram and Arvind Bhatt failed to clear the opening hurdle at the 2014 Macau Open, here today.
While seventh seed Verma defeated Chinese Taipei's Yang Chih Chieh 21-14 21-15, Sai Praneeth -- seeded eighth -- hardly broke a sweat as his Malaysian opponent Woon Kok Hong conceded the match due to an injury with the Indian leading 11-5 in the opening game.
Verma will next play Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand, while Sai Praneeth will be up against qualifier Ronald Susilo of Singapore.

However, it was curtains for 14th seed Jayram and Bhatt in the opening round of the Grand Prix Gold Series event.
Jayram lost 15-21 11-21 to Kazumasa Sakai of Japan, while Bhatt was shown the door by China's Shi Yuqi, who beat the Indian 15-21 5-21.
Another Indian H S Prannoy, seeded third, will play his first round men's singles match against Shih Kuei Chun of Chinese Taipei later in the day.