Indian shuttlers enjoyed a comfortable outing on the opening day of the Badminton World Championships on Monday with HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma sailing into the second round of the men's singles while the doubles shuttlers also marched to the next round with ease.
Prannoy, seeded 11th in the tournament, hardly broke into a sweat in cruising past unseeded New Zealander Abhinav Manota in straight games 21-12, 21-11 in a match that lasted 28 minutes. He will next take on Brazilian Ygor Coelho in the second round.
Sameer also advanced comfortably to the next round after thrashing France's Lucas Corvee 21-13, 21-10 in a 39-minute affair.
Doubles pairs impress
There was good news from the doubles shuttlers too as the men's duo of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy and the mixed doubles pairs of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N.Sikki Reddy also advanced to the second round.
While Manu and Sumeeth defeated Bulgarian pair Daniel Nikolov and Ivan Rusev 21-13, 21-18 in the 26-minute affair, the mixed doubles combo of Pranaav and Sikki comfortably went past the Czech Republic duo of Jakub Bitman and Alzbeta Basova 21-17, 21-15 in a 30-minute tie.
Later in the day, Satwik and Ashwini floored Denmark's Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen 21-9, 22-20 in a tie that lasted 36 minutes.
In another mixed doubles tie, Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh beat Nigerians Enejoh Abah and Peace Orji 21-13, 21-12 comprehensively in 26 minutes while Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg defeated Canada's Toby NG and Rachel Honderich 21-19, 21-6 in 28 minutes.
However, it was curtains for the women's doubles pair of Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant, who lost their opening round clash 20-22, 14-21 to Turkey's Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci in 34 minutes.
India results on Day 1 of World Championships
Men's singles
- HS Prannoy defeats Abhinav Manota 21-11, 21-11
- Sameer Verma defeats Lucas Corvee 21-13, 21-10
Men's doubles
- Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy defeat Daniel Nikolov and Ivan Rusev 21-13, 21-18
Women's doubles
- Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lose to Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican 20-22, 14-21
Mixed doubles
- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa defeat Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen 21-9, 22-20
- Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N.Sikki Reddy defeat Jakub Bitman and Alzbeta Basova 21-17, 21-15
- Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh beat Enejoh Abah and Peace Orji 21-13, 21-12
- Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg defeat Toby NG and Rachel Honderich 21-19, 21-6
