Korea Open: Srikanth, Sameer progress; Sourabh bows out

India made a promising start at the Korea Open with shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma advancing to the second round of the men’s singles competition on Wednesday.

The sixth seed Srikanth defeated Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-18, 21-17 in a match that lasted 37 minutes.

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The former world no.1 Srikanth now enjoys a dominant 11-3 head-to-head record over the Hong Kong shuttler. He will face Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the second round.

Sameer Verma also reached the second round after his opponent Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai retired midway with the score reading 11-8 in favour of the Indian.

However, it was end of the road for Sourabh Verma, who went down after winning the first game to local favourite Kim Donghun 21-13, 12-21, 13-21.

Sameer will take on Donghun in the second round.