Thailand Open: B Sai Praneeth keeps it simple, George fights

PTI

Bangkok, February 1

Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and Kiran George advanced to the second round of the Thailand Open Super 300 tournament with contrasting wins over their respective opponents here today.

Praneeth beat Mads Christophersen of Denmark 21-13 21-14 in a battle lasting 31 minutes. He faces Jeon Hyeok Jin of South Korea in the second round.

George, on the other hand, staved off a tough challenge from Lee Chia Hao of Chinese Taipei before winning 21-17 19-21 23-21. He would be up against third seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the second round.

However, Sameer Verma, Priyanshu Rajawat and Mithun Manjunath lost their first-round matches. While Verma suffered a 14-21 16-21 defeat to sixth-seeded Shi Feng Li of China, Rajawat lost 21-14 19-21 25-27 to South Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee and Manjunath was beaten 21-18 21-12 by fifth-seeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.

In the women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha beat compatriot Anupama Upadhyaya 21-16 21-19 to reach the second round and will face sixth seed Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark next.

The pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost 8-21 10-21 to sixth-seeded Sheng Shu and Shu Xian Zhang of China in the women’s doubles.

In the mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy beat the Canadian pair of Ty Alexander Lindeman and Josephine Wu 21-11 21-16 to enter the second round. However, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 11-21 17-21 to the fourth-seeded Indonesian pair of Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati.

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