Sameer Verma, HS Prannoy advance to second round in French Open badminton

Sameer Verma registered an upset win over Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia to advance to the second round of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Wednesday. The unseeded Verma beat sixth-seeded Ginting 21-15 21-23 22-20 in a hard-fought first-round match that lasted one hour and 17 minutes. Verma thus avenged Ginting for his loss in the Swiss Open in March. The head-to-head record stood at 2-2 after Wednesday’s win by Verma. Verma will face Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the second round. HS Prannoy also made it to the second round of the tournament with a hard-fought win over Liew Daren of Malaysia in the men’s singles. Prannoy defeated his lower-ranked opponent 21-16 16-21 21-16 in a first-round match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes. Prannoy will next face Lu Guang Zu of China. In the men’s doubles, the Indian pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to the fifth-seeded Indonesian duo of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardiant 15-21 16-21 in the first round.