Prannoy, Sameer reach pre-quarters of Swiss Open

Indian shuttlers H. S. Prannoy and Sameer Verma continued their winning run in the men’s singles competition to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold here. In late night matches, 13th seed Prannoy beat Germany’s Lars Schaenzler 21-16, 21-13 in a little over half an hour match to set up a meeting with 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph of England, seeded sixth.

Young Sameer also continued to punch above his weight, notching up a stunning 21-19, 22-20 win over fourth seed Chinese Wang Zhengming. He will next take on Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, seeded 16th. However, it was the end of 11th seed Ajay Jayaram's campaign as his fight ended with a narrow 21-23, 18-21 loss to Kenichi Tago of Japan last night.

Earlier, > B Sai Praneeth also made it to the pre-quarterfinals after prevailing over Uzbekistan’s Artyom Savatyugin 21-7 21-10. He will next take on second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal and P. V. Sindhu also reached the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s singles competition.