Seoul: The top Indian women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa began their new season on a winning note as they entered the second round of the Korea Open Superseries badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist duo thrashed the New Zealand pair of Anna Rankin and Madeleine Stapleton 21-10, 21-7 in just 19 minutes at the S.K. Handball Stadium.
They, however, have a tough task ahead of them as they face local third seeds Ye Na Jang and So Young Kim in the second round on Thursday.
Ashwini then paired up with Tarun Kona in mixed doubles and notched up a straight-game win over Germans Johannes Schoettler and Johanna Goliszewski. The Indian pair won 22-20, 21-17 in 34 minutes and will face another German combination — seventh seeds Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels — in second round.
However, the Indian singles shuttlers suffered disappointing first round losses. Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold winner K. Srikanth, who was also crowned the national champion in New Delhi in December, lost to Japanese fifth seed Kenichi Tago 10-21, 11-21 in 36 minutes.
R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt lost his match to another Japanese, Takuma Ueda, in 34 minutes 11-21, 11-21.
