Prannoy, Sameer reach second round

Basel, March 15 

Defending champion HS Prannoy, along with Sameer Verma and Subhankar Dey, advanced to the men’s singles second round of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.

Prannoy beat Germany’s David Peng 21-15 21-18 to set up a clash with Scotland’s Kieran Merrilees.

Thirteenth seed Verma, who clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at Syed Modi International in January, brushed aside Hungary’s Gergely Krausz 21-10 21-16 and will take on Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama next.

Dey staved off a tough challenge from Germany’s Alexander Roovers, winning 17-21 21-17 21-15 to set up a meeting with Slovakia’s Iztok Utrosa.

However, it was curtains for national champion Sourabh Verma and Lakhanee Sarang. While Sourabh went down fighting against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 14-21 23-21 21-12, Sarang lost 21-11 21-5 to Tsuneyama. — PTI