Hong Kong:
Kidambi Srikanth made the quarterfinals for the first time in seven months but it was curtains for fellow Indian HS Prannoy at the USD 400,000 Hong Kong Open on Thursday. Former world no.1 Srikanth, who slipped to the 13th spot in the latest BWF rankings this week, notched up a 21-11 15-21 21-19 win over compatriot Sourabh Verma in the men's singles second round. Srikanth had last reached the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open in April. The Guntur shuttler, who received a first-round bye from world no.1 Kento Momota of Japan, will face Olympic champion Chen Long of China next. Earlier, H S Prannoy suffered a 12-21 19-21 loss to sixth seed Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the second round.
World champion P V Sindhu will take on Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, while Parupalli Kashyap will fight it out against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei later in the day. World Champion PV Sindhu made a positive start to her campaign but Saina Nehwal and Sameer Verma were ousted from the Hong Kong Open after suffering contrasting defeats in the opening round of the USD 400,000 event in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Sixth seed Sindhu, who had faltered in the opening round in a couple of recent tournaments, took 36 minutes to see off world no 19 Kim Ga Eun of Korea 21-15 21-16 to progress to the second round. The Olympic silver medallist will face Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan next. However, eighth seed Saina, who claimed the Indonesia Masters in January this year, suffered her fifth first-round loss in the last six tournaments, going down 13-21 20-22 to China's Cai Yan Yan for the second successive time.
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She had lost to Cai at China Open last week. World no.16 Sameer fought for 54 minutes before going to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 11-21 21-13 8-21 in the opening match. It was his third successive loss in the opening round. Saina and Sameer are both scheduled to play Gwangju Korea Masters Super 300 tournament next week. World No 6 Sindhu moved to a 8-4 lead early on but Kim managed to turn the tables, holding a 11-10 advantage at the breather. The Indian then reeled off six points at 13-13 to march ahead and seal the opening game. The second game was no different as Sindhu again broke off at 5-5, grabbing seven points on the trot to move to a massive 12-5 lead. The Indian kept moving ahead and eventually shut the door comfortably on her opponent.
