Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal , K. Srikanth, H S Prannoy and Sameer Verma on Wednesday entered 2nd round of Japan Open Superseries Badminton in Tokyo.
Newly-crowned Korea Open champion Sindhu dished out another splendid performance edging past Japan’s Minatsu Mitani for the second time in as many weeks to reach the second round of the women’s singles. Olympic silver medallist Sindhu edged past Mitani 12-21 21-15 21-17 in the opening round.
Saina, who had skipped the Korea Open due to a slight thigh strain took 39 minutes to dispatch Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-17 21-9 in the women’s singles opening round.
In Men’s Singles, Srikanth, who had won titles at Indonesia and Australia, also produced superlative performance to overcome China’s Tian Houwei 21-15 12-21 21-11 to improve his 1-6 record against the World No. 10. US Open Grand Prix Gold Champion Prannoy got the better off Denmark’s Anders Antonsen 21-12 21-14, while Sameer humbled Thailand’s Khosit Phetpradab 21-12 21-19 in another Men’s Singles match.
However, Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth and Sameer’s elder brother, Sourabh, had to bow out of the tournament after first round losses.
Fast-rising doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also advanced to the mixed doubles second round alongwith Ashwini Ponnappa after defeating Thai pair of Tinn Isriyanet and Pacharapun Chochuwong 21-17 21-13.
However, Satwik and his men’s doubles partner Chirag Shetty couldn’t get across third seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the opening round.
Men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy and women’s doubles pair Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy also crashed out in their respective events.