New Delhi:
Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth overcame a spirited challenge from fellow Indian Lakhanee Sarang to reach the men's singles second round of the USD 120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Wednesday.
Third seed Srikanth, who is coming back after recovering from an ankle injury, saw off Lakhanee 15-21 21-7 21-14 in his opening match and will take on Malaysia's Zulhelmi Zulkiffli later in the day.
Among other Indians in men's singles, H S Prannoy, Sourabh Verma, Sameer Verma and B Sai Praneeth also reached the second round.
While 2016 Swiss Open winner, Prannoy, seeded sixth, who has been in rampaging form at the Premier Badminton League, brushed aside NVS Vijetha 21-11 21-9, Praneeth, seeded ninth, beat Aditya Joshi 21-14 21-9.
Chinese Taipei champion Sourabh, 11th seed, dispatched Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 21-11 21-17 and Sameer Verma, eighth seed, emerged winner after Kartik Jindal conceded the match due to an injury when he was lagging 1-5.
Among other seeded shuttlers, World No 15 Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, second seed, beat India's Munawar Mohammed 21-11 21-12, while another Danish player Anders Antonsen, fifth seed, beat Kiran George 21-9 21-18.
Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli, seeded sventh, defeated Sachin Rawat 21-15 21-10 and Israel's 13th seed Misha Zilberman prevailed 21-15 21-16 over Shreyansh Jaiswal, 12th seed. Emil Holst also beat Hemanth M Gowda 19-21 21-11 21-10.
Among other notable names, Harsheel Dani, Chirag Sen, Pratul Joshi also reached the second round.
In women's singles, Polish Open winner Rituparna Das spanked Nepal's Nangsal Tamang 21-5 21-6 and will take on eighth seeded Russian Ksenia Polikarpova, who beat India's Riya Pillai 21-12 21-11.
Among others, Spain's Beatriz Corrales, third seed, beat India's Reshma Karthik 21-17 21-13, while sixth seeded Indonesian Hanna Ramadini mauled Indian Preethi Konadam 21-9 21-6.
In men's doubles, India's Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy had to toil hard before getting past 15-21 25-23 21-14 against Singapore's Yong Kai Terry Hee and Kean Hean Loh in the opening match.
Top seeds Mathais Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark fought back from a game down to beat young Indian combo of Satwik Reddy and Chirag Shetty 22-24 21-14 21-14 in a thrilling game.
