Indians made a resounding start to their campaign at the New Zealand Open with four doubles pairs reaching the second round of the USD 120,000 Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here today.
Mixed doubles pair of Manu Attri and Ashwini Ponnappa produced a thrilling performance to notch up a 21-13 10-21 21-12 win over Australia's Robin Middleton and Australia Leanne Choo. They will next take on second seeded Korean pair of Shin Baek Cheol and Chae Yoo Jung here.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also entered the second round after an easy win over local combination of Jonathan Sun and Jennifer Tam 21-8 21-9. They will meet Japanese qualifiers Takuto Inoue and Naru Shinoya next.
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In the men's doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy eked out a fighting 21-11 17-21 21-16 win over Chinese Taipei 's Shang Kai Lin and Lu Ching Yao at the North Shore Events Centre here.
Manu and Sumeeth, who claimed their maiden Grand Prix title at Mexico Open last year, will next face Philippines' Ronel Estanislao and Paul Jefferson Vivas.
Pranaav and Akshay Dewalkar also reached the second round with a comfortable 21-11 21-7 win over New Zealand's Joshua Curry and Maoni Hu He. They will square off against seventh seeds Chen Hung Ling and Chi-Lin Wang of Chinese Taipei.
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Srikanth will have his task cut out in a draw which doesn't have any top-10 player but has some tricky players such as Denmark's HK Vittinghus and Thailand's top seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, besides compatriots H S Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram, who have been in good form in the PBL.
"It is a tough competition, there are some very good players, so it is not going to be easy," said the third-seeded Srikanth, who will take on compatriot Lakhanee Sarang in the opening round.
Prannoy too will look to make a resounding start to the new season especially after his rampaging unbeaten run for his team Mumbai Rockets at the PBL. The sixth seed will face NVS Vijetha.
World No.19 Jayaram also had a decent run at the PBL and reached the semifinals at the Malaysia Masters last week and will be itching for a win. He will begin his campaign against fellow Indian Oscar Bansal.
In mixed doubles, second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy are clubbed in the second half, while newly-formed pairs of Jwala Gutta and Manu Attri and Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy will also be in the fray.
In men's doubles, third seeds Manu Attri and B Sumeeth reddy will lead the Indian challenge, while the pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant and newly-formed combination of Ashwini and Sikki will also be in the fray in women's doubles.
