India’s HS Prannoy entered the second round of the men’s singles competition at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament after registering a straight-game win over Ukraine’s Danylo Bosniuk here on Tuesday.
On a comeback trail, the fifth-seeded Indian took just 36 minutes to get the better of Bosniuk 21-14, 21-18 in his opening round clash. A former top-10 player, Prannoy, who gave a good account of himself before being stopped by 20-year-old Lakshya Sen in the quarter finals of the India Open last week, will next meet compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat, who got a first round walkover from Rahul Yadav Chittaboina.
However, the tournament was over for fourth seed Sameer Verma after he retired hurt during his match against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. Sameer was training 2-7 in the first game before he decided to concede the match due to a calf muscle injury which he had sustained in October last year.
Subhankar Dey also conceded his match against compatriot Kartikey Gulshan Kumar due to an injury when he was trailing 2-9 in the opening game. Among women, Ashmita Chaliha gave a first round walkover to Malvika Bansod, while Aakarshi Kashyap defeated Mugdha Agrey 21-13, 21-14 and Anupama Upadhyaya eased past Rituparna Das 21-7, 21-10.
Two-time Olympic medallist and top seed PV Sindhu will open her campaign against compatriot Tanya Hemanth on Wednesday.
Career-high ranking
Lakshya reached a career-high 13th in the latest badminton world rankings after winning the India Open in New Delhi. A title there also lifted the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty to eighth place.
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth remained static at seventh and 10th spots, respectively. Sen made a jump of four places, moving up from the 17th position with 66470 points to close in on reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew at 12th spot. Sen defeated Yew in the final of the India Open.
In December, Sen had reached the World Championships semi-final where he lost to Srikanth 21–17, 14–21, 17–21 and settled for a bronze medal.