Indian shuttlers including P. V. Sindhu and K. Srikanth made a rousing start to the new season, reaching the second round of the USD 120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold here on Wednesday.
Sindhu, Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Subhankar Dey, B. Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma outclassed their opponents in the opening round of their respective singles event, while the pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a stunning win to make their way into the women’s doubles second round.
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A little over two weeks after their stints at the Premier Badminton League, Indian shuttlers rushed to participate in the first Grand Prix Gold event of the season and it was a fruitful outing in the opening round.
Two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, Sindhu, seeded third, thrashed Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet 21-17, 21-16 in a 33-minute battle, while 2014 China Open winner Srikanth brushed aside Malaysia’s Wei Feng Chong 21-17, 21-11.
10th seed Ajay Jayaram, who had a good outing for Delhi Acers at PBL, sent Japan’s Takuma Ueda packing with a 21-19, 21-11 win, while TATA Open winner Sameer stunned Japan’s Sho Sasaki, seeded 12th, 21-18 21-18 in another men’s singles match.
Sai Praneeth defeated Malaysia’s Shahzan Shah Misfahul 21-13 21-15, while new kid Subhankar Dey, too, notched up a 21-19 21-16 win over Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen in another men’s singles clash.
2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala and Ashwini also showed their prowess, edging out Malaysian combo of Mei Kuan Chow and Lee Meng Yean 21-14, 14-21, 25-23 in a 54-minute, hard-fought clash.
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