Saina overcomes Jindapon; Praneeth upsets Leverdez

Sai Praneeth

Bangkok: India enjoyed a superb start to their campaign on the opening day of the main draw of the Thailand Open GP Gold on Wednesday.

World No.5 Saina Nehwal overcame a mid-match slump to beat Thai newcomer Nichaon Jindapon, and compatriot PV Sindhu too progressed into the main draw by beating her Korean opponent. The Indians would have been further enthused by the performance of their men, as national champion Sourabh Verma, his brother Sameer Verma and national runner-up Sai Praneeth progressed into the third round. Sameer Verma in particular had a great day, as he overcame a ranking deficit of 87 places to beat world No.41 Tanongsak of Thailand 21-10 22-20 in the first round, and then cruised past Jiann Chiang of Malaysia 21-12 21-17 to enter the pre-quarterfinals.

He was joined by No.71 Sai Praneeth, who got a creditable win over world No.36 Brice Leverdez of France in the second round. National champion Sourabh Verma, the 12^th seed, comfortably beat Sukamta Evert of Indonesia 21-11 21-12 in his opener before gritting past Pakkawat Vilailak of Thailand 15-21 21-17 21-15.

It wasn’t all easy sailing for India, however. Anand Pawar and Guru Sai Dutt were shown the door in the first round. Maldives International winner K Srikanth had an easy first round win and earned a second round spot with Lin Dan, who dispatched him 21-11 21-13 in less than half an hour.

Saina Nehwal, meanwhile, was taken to the third game by Jindapon, who won the second game 21-16. The top seed however recovered to take the third game and earn a second round match against the upcoming Chinese youngster Li Han.

PV Sindhu, who beat qualifier Mi Jin Jung of Korea 21-9 15-21 21-14, will take on former world champion Wang Lin of China in the second round.