Syed Modi GP: Kashyap advances into 3rd round, Joshi bows out

Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the 3rd round (FILE PHOTO)

India’s top ranked singles player Parupalli Kashyap out-duelled Russia’s 72nd ranked Vladimir Malkov 24-22, 16-21, 21-18 to reach the third round of the Shaheed Dr. K.L. Garg – Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Kashyap was joined by six other Indians in the men’s singles third round.

However, there was some disappointment for the home fans as the 400th ranked Indian Pratul Joshi, who earlier in the day shocked top seed and world number Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in straight games 21-17, 21-12 in the first round, came a cropper in the second round, losing to 367th ranked Siswanto of Indonesia 18-21, 21-16, 20-22.

Fourth seed Indian Ajay Jayaram put it across Indonesia’s 157th ranked Sukamta Evert 21-9, 21-15, while 12th seed RMV Gurusaidutt accounted for Malaysia’s 77th ranked Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin 21-8, 23-21 to reach the third round.

16th seed B Sai Praneeth fought from a game down to pip 464th fellow countryman Sarang Lakhanee 19-21, 21-3 21-5, while K Srikanth, who jumped more than twenty places in the WBF rankings recently, thrashed P Vinay Kumar Reddy 21-12, 21-12 in an all-Indian affair to enter the third round.

Another Indian HS Pranoy got the better of Indonesia’s Prasojo Adi Andrianus 21-12, 21-10 to make it to the round of 32.

In the women’s singles, second seed PV Sindhu crushed 87th ranked Li Lian Yang of Malaysia 21-6, 21-12 in her first round match.

The championship saw many of the Indians play their first two rounds on the same day.