Despite the lack of big names from both the Men's singles and Women's singles unit at the ongoing United States Grand Prix Gold, the Indian contingent has put on an impressive show on the opening day, July 19.
India's top-seeded Men's singles shuttler HS Prannoy needed only 30 minutes to decimate lower-ranked shuttler Luka Wraber from Austria in straight games -- 21-12, 21-16.
Prannoy, who suffered a shocking third-round exit at last month's Canada Open weeks after stunning the likes of Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long, has been handed an easy draw and is likely to face eighth seed Kanta Tsuneyama in the quarter-final.
His path to the last-eight stage is not looking dangerous as he prepares to face Ireland's Joshua Magee, who is ranked 165 places below the Indian shuttler in BWF rankings.
Fit-again Kashyap makes strong start
Meanwhile, India's biggest win on the first day came when unseeded Parupalli Kashyap stunned top seed and defending champion Lee Hyun Il in a tightly-fought encounter that lasted for an hour and three minutes.
Kashyap, who is recovering from a shoulder injury that hampered his initial stages of his season, started the match on a high, clinching the first game with ease. However, he slipped in the second round, before surviving a closely-contested decider to take the match 21-16, 10-21, 21-19.
Former national champion and Hong Kong Open 2016 runner-up Sameer Verma decimated Vietnam's Hoang Nam Nguyen in just 20 minutes on Wednesday. The 22-year-old will face world number 104 Zvonimir Durkingjak of Croatia in the second-round match later today.
Notably, Verma and Kashyap might as well meet in the quarter-final of the Grand Prix Gold tournament, which will also be their first international meeting since 2010 India Open, which the latter won.
Tricky test awaits young Harsheel
20-year-old Harsheel Dani, who exited Canada Open last week in the first-round, made light work of his first-round opponent Arturo Hernandez 21-13, 21-9. The young shuttler gears up to face higher-ranked, 17th seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam on Thursday.
Schedule of Indian Men's singles second-round matches
- Parupalli Kashyap vs Gergely Krausz -- 10:30pm IST
- Sameer Verma vs Zvonimir Durkinjak -- 11:15pm IST
- Harsheel Dani vs Tien Minh Nguyen -- 12:05am IST (Friday)
- HS Prannoy vs Joshua Magee -- 1:30am IST (Friday)
Live scores can be followed on BWF's official website.
