Badminton: Prannoy, Unnati progress in Taipei Open

HS Prannoy. Pic/AFP

Seasoned shuttler HS Prannoy and Unnati Hooda, the spearheads of India's campaign, advanced to the second round of their respective singles events at the Taipei Open Super 300 here on Wednesday.

Seeded seventh, Prannoy defeated Minoru Koga of Japan 21-11 21-14 in his opening round men's singles match that lasted just 35 minutes. He will next take on Hong Kong's Jason Gunawan, who beat another Indian Mithun Manjunath 21-18 21-4 in another first round tie.

Among other Indian men's singles players to progress to the second round were Kiran George and Tharun Mannepalli. While George defeated Wang Po-Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-10 21-18, Mannepalli stunned eight seed Jeon Hyeok Jin of Korea 21-12 21-15. George and Mannepalli will play each other in the next round.

But it was curtains for the likes of rising Rounak Chauhan, who progressed through men's singles qualifiers, as he was shown the door by Richie Duta Richardo of Indonesia 14-21 16-21.

Third seed Unnati Hooda started her women's singles campaign on a positive note by registering a 21- 12 21-18 win Pei Yu Wang of Chinese Taipei. The Indian will next play compatriot Tanya Hemanth, who defeated another Taipei shuttler Wen Chi Hsu 21-16 14-21 21-16 in a tough three-game opener.

Young Devika Sihag, seeded eighth here, Tanvi Sharma and Anmol Kharb also progressed to the next round of women's singles. While Devika beat Korea's Ga Eun Park 14-21 21-7 21-15, Tanvi got the better of compatriot Tasnim Mir 21-16 22-20 and Anmol defeated Ishika Jaiswal of USA 21-15 11-21 21-19.

Devika will next face Indonesia's Ni Kadek Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi, who beat India's Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj 21-10 20-22 21-14. Tanvi will next take on Indonesia's Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan, while Anmol will up against second seed Hsiang Ti Lin of Chinese Taipei. Lin defeated India's Ashmita Chaliha 16-21 21-14 21-15 in another opening round match.

Shriyanshi Valishetty is the other Indian women shuttler to bow out of the competition after losing 11-21 12-21 against fourth seed Supanida Katethong of Thailand. Isharani Baruah will take on local favourite and top seed Pin-Chian Chiu of later in the day.

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