Hyderabadi shuttler takes just 31 minutes to beat Erik Meijs 21-17, 21-10 in opening round of badminton World Championships
Parupalli Kashyap returns to Erik Meijs during the World Championships at Istora Stadium in Jakarta
Jakarta: Top Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy got off to winning starts at the World Championships with straight-game victories in men's singles at the 9,000-seater Istora Senayan here yesterday.
Parupalli Kashyap returns to Erik Meijs during the World Championships at Istora Stadium in Jakarta. Pic:AP/PTI
Doubles pairs of Pradnya Gadre-N Sikki Reddy and Akshay Dewalkar-Pranaav Chopra earned hard fought wins to also advance at the annual event. However, it was the end of the road for two Indian pairs — Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan and Tarun Kona/N Sikki Reddy — who lost their respective openers.
ADVERTISEMENT
Good start for Kashyap
Tenth seed Kashyap took just 31 minutes to move past Dutchman Erik Meijs 21-17, 21-10. With the win the reigning Commonwealth Games champion extended his winning streak over Meijs to 2-0.
Next up, the 28-year-old Hyderabadi will take on Vietnam's 2013 Worlds bronze medallist Nguyen Tien Minh, who has a 4-4 record against Kashyap.
"Today it was an OK match. Just felt the conditions were tough at the start but got a good rhythm at the end. The opponent played well at the start. Next match will be tougher, so need to prepare well for it," said Kashyap.
Later, 11th seed Prannoy also had an easy win, coming out on top 21-12, 21-16 over Brazil's Alex Yuwan Tjong in 31 minutes. This was World No 12 Prannoy's first match against the World No 109 Brazilian. The Kerala shuttler will next meet Edwin Ekiring of Uganda.
"Good to be back to winning days after injury. I was rusty in the second game but had to change the game a bit to attacking mode and then I got my rhythm back. Good first round for me," said Prannoy.
Pradnya and Sikki had a contrasting win later in the day. They beat German combine Isabel Herttrich and Birgit Michels 16-21, 21-15, 21-14 in 50 minutes. In Round 2, the Indian women's doubles pair will take on Japanese 14th seeds Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito.
In the men's doubles first round, Chopra and Dewalkar defeated Russian Nikita Khakimov and Vasily Kuznetsov 17-21, 21-11, 21-11 in 44 minutes. They will next take on Danish 10th seeds Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
