HS Prannoy has it easy, Parupalli Kashyap follows suit to enter last-16
Taipei City, June 21
Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap cruised into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the Taipei Open Super 300 with straight-game wins over their respective rivals here today.
World No. 9 Prannoy hardly broke a sweat as he took just 26 minutes to dispatch local shuttler Lin Yu Hsien 21-11 21-10 in the opening round.
The third-seeded Prannoy, who claimed the Malaysia Masters Super 300 title last month, will next take on Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in the second round.
Former CWG gold medallist Kashyap also notched up an easy 21-15 21-16 over Germany’s Samuel Hsiao. He will take on local favourite Su Li Yang next.
National champion Mithun Manjunath put up a splendid fight before going down to second seed and local favourite Chou Tien Chen 18-21 21-14 16-21 in one hour and 11 minutes.
Tanya Hemanth was the lone Indian to win in the women’s singles as she beat Agnes Korosi of Hungary 21-7 21-17. But a tough second round awaits the 19-year-old Indian as she is up against the World Championships and Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying, who is also the top seed.
In the mixed doubles, N Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor beat compatriots Navaneeth Bokka and Priya Konjengbam 21-14 21-17 in an all-Indian tie.
Sikki and Rohan will meet Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Lin Xiao Min in the pre-quarters.
However, it was the end of the road for S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Kiran George, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Aakarshi Kashyap.
