Ashwini Ponnappa-Sumeeth Reddy qualify for Swiss Open main draw but 5 mixed doubles pairs out in 1st round

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy qualified for the main draw but five other mixed doubles pairs bowed out in the first round of the Swiss Open in Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

The six-day long BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament is being organized by the Badminton World Federation.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy rallied back superbly to edge out Mads Vestergaard and Natasja P. Anthonisen of Denmark 18-21, 21-16, 21-17 in an hour-long battle.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy will clash with fifth seeds Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France in the first round of the main draw.

Five Indian mixed doubles pairs bow out in main draw

It was a disappointing start for India in the mixed doubles event, with as many as five pairs crashing out in the first round.

Barring Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, all four other Indian mixed doubles pairs lost in straight games.

Upcoming mixed doubles duo Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto squandered away a one-game advantage to lose to Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei of Malaysia 21-18, 20-22, 14-21.

Most of the top Indian players, including PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy, will be playing in the tournament and will be in action on Wednesday evening.

All England silver medalist Lakshya Sen has, however, opted out citing exhaustion following his back-to-back final appearances at the German Open and All England Championships.

Indian Results (Mixed Doubles)

(Qualification round)

B Sumeeth Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa bt Mads Vestergaard-Natasja P Anthonisen (Denmark) 18-21, 21-16, 21-17 (59 minutes)

(First round)

Venkat Gaurav Prasad-Juhi Dewangan lost to 8-Mark Lamsfuss-Isabel Lohau (Germany) 9-21, 15-21 (23 minutes)

MR Arjun-Treesa Jolly lost to 4-Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (Malaysia) 15-21, 17-21 (37 minutes)

Dhruv Kapila-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela lost to 6-Goh Soon Huat-Lai Shevon Jemie (Malaysia) 18-21, 15-21 (35 minutes)

Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto lost to Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei (Malaysia) 21-18, 20-22, 14-21 (55 minutes)

Sai Pratheek-N Sikki Reddy lost to Mikkel Mikkelsen-Rikke Soby (Denmark) 15-21, 19-21 (37 minutes).