Sameer exits; Manjunath, Rajawat progress in Orleans Masters

Orleans: India's Sameer Verma crashed out in the opening round even as Mithun Manjunath and Priyanshu Rajawat progressed to the men's singles second round of the Orleans Masters badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Verma squandered a game lead to lose 19-21, 21-19, 21-17 against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen. In other first-round men's singles matches, India's Manjunath defeated higher-ranked Victor Svendsen of Denmark 24-22, 25-23 while Rajawat beat compatriot Kiran George 21-18, 21-13.

Manjunath will play Taipei's Yu Jen, who was lucky to progress after fifth seed Rasmus Gemke retired in the second game after pocketing the first. Rajawat, on the other hand, will be up against top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. Nishimoto prevailed over Taipei's Chia Hao Lee 21-18, 21-11. B Sai Praneeth will open his men's singles campaign against Malaysia's Jun Hao Leong later in the day. In women's singles, Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal will play Turkish qualifier Neslihan Yigit in the opening round. Four other Indian female shuttlers -- Ashmita Chahliya, Tasnim Mir, Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth -- will also be seen in action on Wednesday.