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Sindhu, Srikanth exit
Prannoy, Rajawat enter second round
The in-form HS Prannoy progressed to the second round with a fine show but PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth's inconsistent run continued as they made opening round exits in the Korea Open Super 500 tournament here on Wednesday. Fifth seed Prannoy, the only Indian singles player in the elite top 10, registered a 21-13 21-17 win over Belgium's Julien Carraggi.
The 31-year-old will face either Lee Yun Gyu or Lee Cheuk Yiu next. Sindhu, who slipped to world number 17 this week, lost to 32-year-old world no. 22 Pai Yu-Po of Chinese Taipei 18-21 21-10 13-21 in the women's singles opening round. The contest lasted 58 minutes. Srikanth, on the other hand, squandered a match point advantage in the second game to go down 21-12 22-24 17-21 to former world no. 1 Kento Momota from Japan. It was Srikanth's 15th loss and 12th successive defeat against the two-time world champion, who has fallen to world number 53 after struggling with form for the last few years.
India's Priyanshu Rajawat, however, advanced to the second round with a straight-game win over local player Choi Ji Hoon in the men's singles competition. The world number 32 Rajawat, the Orleans Masters winner, saw off Choi 21-15 21-19 in 42 minutes to set up a clash with top seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan. The mixed pair of N Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor, who had won the Victor Denmark Masters international challenge in June, made it to the second round with a 21-17 21-17 win over Philippines' Alvin Morada and Alyssa Ysabel Leonardo. The Indian duo will face Chinese fourth seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping next.
Kiran George, however, failed to cross the opening round hurdle, going down to Chinese Taipei's world number 29 Wang Tzu Wei 17-21 9-21 in another men's singles match. Aakarshi Kashyap, Tasnim Mir, Tanya Hemanth, Mithun Manjunath and Ashmita Chaliha -- all were ousted from the tournament in the first round, underlining the huge gulf in quality in the second batch of Indian shuttlers. While Kashyap lost 12-21 17-21 to China's world number 20 Zhang Yi Man, Mir went down 11-21 18-21 to Korea's world No. 19 Kim Ga Eun and Tanya lost 11-21 17-21 to world No. 32 Saena Kawakami from Japan.
