New Zealand GPG: HS Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap continue good run to make pre-quarterfinals

Auckland: HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap continued their good run, reaching the pre-quarterfinals with straight-game wins in men’s singles competition of the New Zealand Grand Prix Gold at Auckland on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_3848861” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of HS Prannoy. Image courtesy: BWF official website[/caption] 24-year-old Prannoy, who had clinched the US Open in California last month, staved off a challenge from Indonesia’s Firman Abdul Kholik 23-21, 21-18. Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap, who had also reached the finals of the US Open, notched up a crushing win over New Zealand’s Oscar Guo 21-9, 21-8. Prannoy will meet 10th seed Hong Kong’s Wei Nan, while 15th seeded Kashyap will face compatriot and seventh seed Sourabh Verma. Sourabh, seeded 7th, posted a 21-16, 21-16 win over Indonesia’s Henrikho Kho Wibowo, while 16th seeded Siril Verma beat another Indonesian Saputra Vicky Angga 21-14, 21-16 to advance to the next round. For young shuttlers — Sahil Sipani and Neeraj Vashist — it was the end of road after they suffered straight-game losses in the second round. Sahil lost 9-21, 8-21 to 11th seed Lin Yu Hsien of Chinese Taipei, while Neeraj went down 16-21, 13-21 to Australia’s Anthony Joe. Pratul Joshi also bowed out after his battle ended with a 13-21, 22-24 loss to top seeded Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei in another men’s singles match. Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 15-21, 18-21 to Japanese fourth seed Ayako Sakuramoto and Yukiko Takahata in women’s doubles. In mixed doubles, Chinese pair of Fan Qiuyue and Xuanxuan Liu ended the journey of Prajakta Sawant and Malaysia’s Yogendran Khrishnan 21-13, 21-13.