Praneeth, Ashwini-Sikki advance at Malaysia Masters

India’s Sai Praneeth and the women’s doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Sibu on Wednesday.

Praneeth got the better of Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-13, 21-13 in 44 minutes in the first round.

Ashwini-Sikki took only 25 minutes to ease past Germany’s Johanna Goliszewski and Lara Kaepplein 21-15, 21-12.

In the men’s singles category, Danish reignging world champion Viktor Axelsen became the sole survivor among the top players as China’s Lin Dan, Chen Long, South Korea’s Son Wan- ho and Malaysian veteran Lee Chong Wei were eliminated in the first round.