Sameer Verma, Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal have advanced to the second round of the Denmark Open badminton tournament at Odense.
In the Men’s singles event, Srikanth defeated Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in 35 minutes with a scoreline of 21-16, 21-10 to to cruise into the next round while Verma entered the second round, overcoming China’s Shi Yuqi 21-17, 21-18 in the 44 minutes.
In Women’s singles, world No 11 Saina defeated Hong Kong’s Ngan Yi Cheung 20-22, 21-17, 24-22 in a draining clash that lasted 81 minutes.
However, third seed PV Sindhu and the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa and S Rankireddy bowed out of the tournament after losing in the first round.