Mumbai: Top seed R M V Gurusaidutt and second ranked B Sai Praneeth led the rest of the seeds, barring the notable exception of Subhankar Dey, into the second round of the USD 15,000 Tata Open India International Challenge badminton tournament, here today.
Guru, ranked 22nd in the world currently, took some time to warm up against an erratic Oscar Bansal before stepping on the pedal in the second game to carve out a facile 21-16 21-7 win in half an hour. He will now meet compatriot Mohit Kamat tomorrow for a place in the quarter-finals.
"I play the counter-attacking game rather than go on all out attack or defence," said Guru after his easy victory. Sai Praneeth was too good for little known rival Mayank Behal and clinched the match in emphatic style for the loss of ten points in each of the two games.
Dey, seeded 7, was the lone casualty among seeded Indians as he was knocked out by former junior national champion Harsheel Dani in straight games, earning the winner a shot at Taipei's unseeded player Shen-Jie Yang.
Other Indian seeds to sail through to round two were No. 3 H S Prannoy, No. 4 Sourabh Varma, No. 6 Chetan Anand, former four-time national singles title winner, and No. 8 Anup Sridhar, a seasoned campaigner and Olympian.
In the women's singles, top seed Febby Angguni of Indonesia knocked out India's Aditi Mutatkar in short shrift to enter round two. Two other Indian seeds to be dumped out early were second seed second seed Arundhati Pantawani and third seed Tanvi Lad.
Both crashed out after losing to unseeded Indonesian rivals Ana Rovita and Dinar Dyah Ayustine respectively with Arundhati, a former national champion, winning the opening game and then losing the other two. Seventh seed Trupti Murgunde won an all-India first round tie against Sanskriti Chhabra to sail into round two. Also through to the pre-quarters were 4th seed P C Thulasi, a former winner, and 8th seed Sayali Gokhale, an ex-national singles title holder.
Results (all from India unless stated otherwise) Men's singles (1st round): R M V Gurusaidutt (1) def. Oscar Bansal 21-16 21-7; Mohit Kamat def. D G B T Dullewa, SRI, 21-13 21-16; Anup Sridhar (8) def. Nathaniel Ernestan Sulistyo, INA, 21-12 21-5; Chia Hung Lu, TPE, def. Abhimanyu Singh 21-15 12-21 22-20; Sourabh Varma (4) def. P Vinay Kumar Reddy 21-17 21-12. Yi-Hsiang Yang, TPE, def. C Rohit Yadav, 16-21 21-15 22-20; Neeraj Vashist def. Prakash Jolly 21-19 22-20; Aditya Joshi def. Sameer Verma 21-19 16-21 21-19; Chetan Anand (6) def. Ketan Chahal 21-18 21-17; Talar Laa def. N V S Vijetha 17-21 21-14 21-15; H S Prannoy (3) def. Nigel D'Sa 21-12 21-12; Sheng-Jie Yang, TPE, def. K Ajay Kumar 21-19 15-21 21-14; Harsheel Dani def. Subhankar Dey (7) 21-16 21-12; Aditya Prakash def. Deepak Khatri 17-21 21-14 21-9; B Sai Praneeth (2) def. Mayank Behal 21-10 21-10.
Women's singles (1st round): Febby Angguni (1), INA, def. Aditi Mutatkar 21-10 21-6; Arathi Sara Sunil def. Sara Naqvi 21-16 22-20; Wen Chi Hsu, TPE, def. Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa, SRI, 22-20 21-19; Dinar Dyah Ayustine, INA, def. Tanvi Lad (3) 21-14 21-17; Yu Chieh Cheng, TPE, def. Dhanya Nair 21-8 21-13; Chia Hsin Lee (6), TPE, def. Mudra Dhainje 15-21 21-18 21-10; Mohita Sahdev def. Reshma Karthik 11-21 26-24 21-16. Riya Pillai def. Juhi Dewangan 21-18 21-19; Trupti Murgunde (7) def. Sanskriti Chhabra 21-9 21-17; Karishma Wadkar def. Jacqueline Rose Kunnath 21-17 21-13; Ana Rovita, INA, def. Arundhati Pantawane (2) 17-21 21-13 21-13; P C Thulasi (4) def. Yin Fun Lim (MAS) 21-14 12-21 21-11; Sayali Gokhale [8] def. Siri Chandana Oleti 21-5 21-10; Neha Pandit def. Sheshadri Sanyal 21-12 21-18; Lekha Handunkuttihettige, SRI def. Kanthi Visalakshi P 21-11 21-17.
