Yonex Malaysian Open: 11th seed Gurusaidutt battles into second round

India’s RMV Gurusaidutt dropped a game before accounting for Chao Huang of Singapore 21-19, 14-21, 21-17 to advance to the second round of the Yonex Sunrise Malaysian Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship being played in Kuala Lumpur.

The 11th seeded Indian – the only men’s shuttler to be seeded in the tournament – fought a tight opening game.

Gurusaidutt, ranked 33 in the world, won the crucial points and weathered all the resistance thrown by his 191st ranked Singaporean opponent.

The Indian, who reached the quarterfinals of the recent Indian Open, suffered a lapse in concentration in the second game and conceded it at 14-21.

The decider was keenly fought with Chao giving nothing away. But Gurusaidutt held his nerves when it mattered to wrap up the third game 21-17 to secure his passage to the second round, where he meets 144th ranked Malaysian Giap Chin Goh.

Another Indian, K Srikanth also moved into the second round by putting it across Korea’s 84th ranked Sung Min Park in straight games 21-13, 21-11.

Srikanth, who shocked Jan O Jorgensen in the first round of the Indian Open, next plays 14th seed and 50th ranked Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand in the second round.

HS Pranoy also entered the second round after getting a walkover over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto. He now plays Malaysia’s 81st ranked Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainduddin.

Sameer Verma became the fourth Indian to progress to the second round. The 190th ranked Indian pipped local boy Wei Jian AI 21-10, 21-9. He now plays fourth seed Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia.

Meanwhile, India’s 196th ranked Abhimanyu Singh gave a first round walkover to Hong Kong’s 67th ranked Yan Kit Chan.

Another Indian, Oscar Bansal, ranked 251 in the world, lost in the first round to Malaysia’s 157th ranked Beryno Jiann Tze Wong 21-7, 16-21, 15-21.

It may be pertinent to mention that the Indian shuttlers had capped off a fine run in the recently-held Yonex Sunrise Indian Open.

India’s Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles semifinals where he was outclassed by Japan’s Kenichi Tago. PV Sindhu reached the women’s singles semifinals where she went down to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon.

As many as five Indians reached the men’s singles quarterfinals – besides Anand Pawar, Ajay Jayaram, RMV Gurusaidutt, HS Pranoy and B Sai Praneeth lived up to the home fans’ expectations.

Two Indians made it to the women’s singles quarterfinals – Arundhati Pantawane made the last-eight grade along with Sindhu.

That’s not all, Indian shuttlers created quite a few upsets in the Indian Open. K Srikanth shocked fourth seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark in the first round.

HS Pranoy stunned former world number one Taufiq Hidayat of Indonesia in the second round.

Anand Pawar surprised China’s Yun Hu in the second round.

RMV Gurusaidutt stunned Indonesia’s world number 18 Tommy Sugiarto in the first round.

In the women’s singles, Arundhati Pantawane shocked Thailand’s world number 21 Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the opening round.

The stellar showing from the Indian shuttlers is praiseworthy considering the fact the country’s top men’s and women’s singles players – Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal – crashed out early.