New Zealand Open: HS Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap aim to continue their heroics

HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap will hope to continue their US Open heroics as they start their challenge at the $120, 000 Skycity New Zealand Open 2017, beginning at Auckland on Tuesday. Along with them, Ajay Jayaram and Sourabh Verma too are in the draw which undoubtedly gives India strong medal chances in the men’s singles category.

This is the final Grand Prix Gold event before the prestigious World Championships, scheduled from August 21. Hence players are eager to get that last bit of high-level match practice before embarking for Glasgow.

Jayaram returns

Jayaram, one of India’s World Championships qualifiers, is seeded second. The World No. 16 is resuming competitive play more than a month after the Australian Open and has ChineseTaipei’s World No. 122 Chia Hung Lu first up.

He can have a face-off with the talented 16th seeded Siril Verma in the pre-quarter-finals should the 17-year-old win his first couple of rounds. Verma meets the lower-ranked Riyanto Subagja of Indonesia in the opener.

Prannoy, Kashyap seek a repeat

Meanwhile, US Open Grand Prix Gold winner HS Prannoy will be upbeat after his California success. The Kerala shuttler’s first title win in 16 months has surely boosted his confidence by miles.

The fourth seed has the unheralded Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in the first round followed by a possible showdown with Firman Abdul Kholik.

The route gets easier till the semi-finals where Prannoy is likely to cross swords with the top seed and World No. 12 Tzu Wei Wang. The Chinese Taipei ace has already reached the finals of the German Open and the Chinese Taipei Masters and should be a handful for the Indian.

Kashyap, the US Open runner-up, kicks off his campaign against Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia while the seventh seeded Sourabh Verma has to deal with Australia’s Nathan Tang in the opening round.

The two have a good chance of setting up an all-Indian pre-quarter-final.

Other Indians in this category are Arun Kumar Ashok Kumar, Siddharath Thakur, Sahil Sipani, Sachin Rawat and Neeraj Vashist.

In doubles, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy have withdrawn after tasting success at the Lagos International over the weekend. That has left the unheralded pair of Sipani and Jagadish Yadav as the only team to represent India in this category.

The situation is very much similar in women’s doubles where Prajakta Sawant and Sanyogita Ghorpade is the sole Indian team. Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy, originally seeded third, have pulled out.

Sawant is also vying for the mixed doubles crown alongside Malaysia’s Yogendran Krishnan. They are seeded fourth and have the Chinese duo of Fan Qiuyue and Xuanxuan Liu in the opening round.

In women’s singles, Ghorpade is looking to qualify for the main draw.