Syed Modi Masters: Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu advance
Women shuttlers cruise to second round, Srikanth and Kashyap in round three
Lucknow: In what turned out to be a good outing for Indian shuttlers on Wednesday, Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal defeated Yin Fun Lim of Malaysia 21-17, 21-12 and two-time World Championship bronze medallist, PV Sindhu thrashed qualifier Ekta Kalia 21-6, 21-12 at the BBD UP Badminton Academy. Both the ace tennis stars have now moved on to the second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament
World number four Kidambi Srikanth and Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap sailed into the third round after scoring easy wins. Srikanth came from behind to defeat Malaysia's Kian Meng Tan 18-21, 21-13 and 22-20, while third seeded Kashyap spanked Ankit Chhikara 21-7, 21-14.
Third seeded Kashyap breezed through the next round spanking his opponent Ankit Chhikara 21-7, 21-14. (Photo: AFP)
Also, RMV Gurusaidutt got the better of Malaysian Daren Liew 21-14, 21-15, while B Sai Praneeth beat Gaurav Venkat 21-14, 21-10. Ajay Jayaram retired hurt after trailing against Iskandar another Malaysian Zulkarnain Zainuddin.
Srikanth, who won the China Super Series Premier last year, beat Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-14, 21-13 while Kashyap edged past emerging player Subhankar Dey 21-11, 22-20 in the men's singles competition to advance to the second round earlier in the day.
Among other top names, 16th seed Arvind Bhat, fourth seed HS Prannoy, eighth seed Gurusaidutt, seventh seed Sourabh Varma and sixth seed B Sai Praneeth made it to the second round.
In the women's singles, Rituparna Das spanked qualifier Riya Mukherjee 21-7, 21-16 and 2011 National Games champion Arundhati Pantawane brushed aside Slovakia's Jana Ciznarova 21-10, 21-12.
Bahrain International Challenge winner PC Thulasi and Tanvi Lad also had a good day in office as they steamrolled qualifier Rucha Nikam and Russia's Anna Astrakhantseva 21-5, 21-8 and 21-9, 21-1 respectively.
Youngsters Sameer Verma, Harsheel Dani, Neeraj Vashist, Saurav Kapoor, Gaurav Venkat, Abhishek Yelegar, Ankit Chhikara, Vipul Saini, Satinder Malik, Abhimanyu Singh, Talar Laa, Srujan Nandaluri and Siddharath Thakur also crossed the first hurdle in the men's singles.