Syed Modi International
Lucknow, Nov 26: Top seed Unnati Hooda and senior shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy registered comfortable wins to lead a host of Indians into the second round of the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament here on Wednesday.
While Hooda overcame compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap 21-13, 21-18, former champion Srikanth, who had reached the finals at Malaysia Masters early this year, produced a fluent performance to defeat Kavin Thangam 21-13, 21-10 at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.
Later in the day, Prannoy, a 2023 world championships bronze medallist, saw off Shashwat Dalal to set up another all-Indian clash against Manraj Singh.
In the second round, Mithun Manjunath will face Tharun Mannepalli after the two crossed their respective opening rounds in contrasting fashion.
While Mithun struggled past Dmitriy Panarin 21-18 12-21 21-10, sixth seed Tharun brushed aside Sathish Karunakaran 21-7 21-9 in a lop-sided contest.
Among other key results, seventh seed Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj opened her women’s singles challenge with a confident 21-12, 21-14 win over Shreya Lele, while Tasnim Mir edged out Aditi Bhatt 21-15 11-21 21-17, and world junior silver medallist Tanvi Sharma overcame Ashmita Chaliha 21-15 21-19 in another match.
Kiran George also advanced in the men’s singles section, beating Israel’s Daniil Dubovenko 21-17, 21-9, and will face Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong next.
Priyanshu Rajawat, playing his first match in five months after recovering from a knee injury, defeated Meiraba Luwang Maisnam 21-18 21-14 to set up a second-round clash with another Indian, BM Rahul Bharadwaj. (PTI)
