Syed Modi International: Kashyap, Jayaram enter 2nd round, Saina retires hurt

India’s top ranked singles player Parupalli Kashyap made a confident start, ousting Korea’s Ha Young Woong 21-18, 21-9 to advance into the second round of the Shaheed Dr. K.L. Garg – Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Tuesday.

The world number 20 – seeded second in the tournament – who had to retire hurt at the recent Macau and Hong Kong Open tournaments, fought an even contested opening game against 153rd ranked Korean before settling down into a nice rhythm to close out the match in just 31 minutes.

There was more good news for the Indian camp as fourth seed Ajay Jayaram brushed aside Russia’s 149th ranked Nikita Khakimov 21-15, 21-13. 12th seed RMV Gurusaidutt also cruised into the second round with a 21-11, 21-9 win over fellow countryman Prakash Jolly.

16th seed B Sai Praneeth also eased into the second round, disposing off Singapore’s 161st ranked Chao Huang 21-15, 21-13.

However, 6th seed Sourabh Varma was a first round casualty, going down to Malaysia’s 87th ranked Soon Huat Goh 19-21, 14-21.

Among the other Indians, K Srikanth sneaked past Malaysia’s 232nd ranked Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub 21-11 15-21 21-19, while old warhorse Chetan Anand pipped fellow Indian Aditya Joshi 21-18, 21-10.

Earlier, the day began on a mixed note for India. Women’s top seed Saina Nehwal had everything going for her in the first round match against Russia’s 165th ranked Ksenia Polikarpova but had to retire hurt while she was leading 21-17, 20-18.

But the day belonged to 400th ranked unheralded Indian Pratul Joshi who shocked top seed and world number 11 Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in straight games 21-17, 21-12.