Srikanth, Kashyap cruise into third round of Syed Modi Grand Prix

Lucknow: World number four Kidambi Srikanth and Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap sailed into the third round of Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after scoring easy wins on what turned out to be a good outing for Indian shuttlers on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_2058485” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Kidambi Srikanth. AFP[/caption] This was after country’s top women shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu made it to the second round. Srikanth came from behind to defeat Malaysia’s Kian Meng Tan 18-21 21-13 22-20, while the third seeded Parupalli Kashyap spanked Ankit Chhikara 21-7 21-14. Also, R M V Gurusaidutt got the better of Malaysian Daren Liew 21-14 21-15, while B Sai Praneeth beat Gaurav Venkat 21-14 21-10. Ajay Jayaram retired hurt after trailing against Iskandar another Malaysian Zulkarnain Zainuddin. Earlier, Olympic bronze medallist Saina defeated Yin Fun Lim of Malaysia 21-17 21-12 and two-time World Championship bronze medallist, Sindhu thrashed qualifier Ekta Kalia 21-6 21-12 at the BBD UP Badminton Academy. Srikanth, who won the China Super Series Premier last year, beat Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-14 21-13 while Kashyap edged past emerging player Subhankar Dey 21-11 22-20 in men’s singles competition to advance to the second round earlier in the day. Among other top names, 16th seed Arvind Bhat, fourth seed H S Prannoy, eighth seed R M V Gurusaidutt, seventh seed Sourabh Varma, sixth seed B Sai Praneeth made it to the second round. In women’s singles, Rituparna Das spanked qualifier Riya Mukherjee 21-7 21-16 and 2011 National Games champion Arundhati Pantawane brushed aside Slovakia’s Jana Ciznarova 21-10 21-12. Bahrain International Challenge winner P C Thulasi and Tanvi Lad also had a good day in office as they steamrolled qualifier Rucha Nikam and Russia’s Anna Astrakhantseva 21-5 21-8 and 21-9 21-1 respectively. Youngsters Sameer Verma, Harsheel Dani, Neeraj Vashist, Saurav Kapoor, Gaurav Venkat, Abhishek Yelegar, Ankit Chhikara, Vipul Saini, Satinder Malik, Abhimanyu Singh, Talar Laa, Srujan Nandaluri and Siddharath Thakur also crossed the first hurdle in men’s singles. PTI