Murgunde, Jolly advance to main draw of Syed Modi Open

Lucknow - Indian shuttlers Trupti Murgunde and Prakash Jolly qualified for the main draw in their respective categories at the Syed Modi International India Open Grand Prix Gold here Tuesday.

Murgunde downed second seed Dhanya Nair 21-15, 22-20 in the women’s singles second qualification round at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium while Jolly overcame top seed Manish Gupta 21-10, 21-10 to advance in men’s singles.

Others to qualify for the women’s singles main draw are Thai Chochuwong Pornpawee who beat South Korea’s fourth seed Hyo Min Kim 21-8, 22-20 and Ruthvika Shivani G. who beat upcoming shuttler Saili Rane of Thane 21-10, 21-10.

In the men’s singles qualification rounds, fourth seed Gaurav Venkat went down to Neeraj Vashist 21-11, 21-16.

The main draw starts Wednesday where former Olympic and World Champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia is seeded No.1 in men’s singles while India’s Saina Nehwal is the women’s singles top seed.

This is the year’s final tier three or Grand Prix tournament.