New Delhi:
Making a comeback after a long injury lay-off, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Guru Sai Dutt entered the men’s singles main draw at the USD 275,000 India Super Series badminton tournament here.
After clinching the bronze at the Glasgow Games, Guru sustained multiple injuries and missed many tournaments, leading to a steep fall in his rankings.
Last week, he lost in the quarterfinals of the Polish Open but the Indian made a positive start here as he beat USA’s Sattawat Pongnairat 21-14 21-9 in the opening round, before prevailing over Thailand’s Thammasin Sitthikom 16-21 21-14 21-10 to reach the main draw.
Guru will play Korea’s Lee Dong Keun in the first round tomorrow.
Out of the 20 qualifying spots, 14 were grabbed by Indians including Sameer Verma, Shlok Ramchandra and Sanyam Shukla.
Verma advanced into the main draw, trampling former world junior champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia 21-14 23-21, before seeing off compatriot Abhishek Yelegar, who had defeated Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov in the opener.
Only Indians participated in the women’s singles qualifiers and out of the 16 players, Rucha Nikam, Jyoti Nashier, Riya Mukherjee and Kuhoo Garg reached the main draw.
On Wednesday, top seed Saina Nehwal, All England champion Carolina Marin of Spain and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China would play their first round matches.
Other star attractions include Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark), K Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap, and the doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.
