Bahrain International Challenge: 3rd seed Sai Praneeth advances

Third seed Sai Praneeth made a decent beginning at the 2012 Bahrain International Challenge Badminton Championship being played in Manama. The 71st ranked shuttler – the only Indian to be seeded in the tournament – had an easy opening game against Thailand’s Parinyawat Thongunuam but encountered stiff resistance in the second game before prevailing 21-13, 21-19 to romp into the second round.

Seasoned campaigner Chetan Anand, however, crashed out in the first round. The 135th ranked Indian, who reached the semifinals of the Hungarian Open last week, went down to Thailand’s Pisit Poodchalat 15-21, 15-21.

87th ranked H.S. Prannoy defeated Ajay Kumar 21-16, 21-12 in an all-India affair. Another Indian Anup Sridhar also advanced to the second round. The 117th ranked Anup brushed aside the challenge of Jordan’s Amro Nidal Alnoubani 21-4, 21-8. 125th ranked K Srikanth was another Indian to pull off a facile win, decimating Brunei’s Al Sayed Jafar Ebrahim 21-8, 21-14.

In other matches, India’s 408th ranked Aditya Prakash routed Ashok Gopinath of Bahrain 21-3, 21-4, while 558th ranked Abhimanyu Singh sailed past Georgios Charalambidis of Greece 21-7, 21-15. Vikas Harsha posted a 21-17, 15-21, 21-13 win over Egypt’s Abderrehemane Kashkal.

194th ranked Akshit Mahajan of India was shown the door by top seed Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka 17-21, 25-27.

In the women’s singles, India’s 147th ranked Arundhati Pantwane lost to Jordan’s Wael Mohammad Amro 2-21, 10-21. 785th ranked Indian Mayank Behl also lost to Indonesia’s Dharma Alrie Guna 10-21, 20-22.