Swiss Open GPG: HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma advance to second round; Sourabh Verma bows out

Basel: Defending champion H S Prannoy along with Sameer Verma and Subhankar Dey advanced to the men’s singles second round of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Prannoy from Kerela disposed Germany’s David Peng 21-15 21-18 in the opening round to set up a clash with Scotland’s Kieran Merrilees next. [caption id=“attachment_3325592” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File phot of HS Prannoy. AFP[/caption] 13th seed Sameer, who clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at Syed Modi international in January, brushed aside Hungary’s Gergely Krausz 21-10 21-16 and will take on Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama next. Subhankar Dey also staved off the challenge from Germany’s Alexander Roovers 17-21 21-17 21-15 to set up a meeting with Slovakia’s Iztok Utrosa. However, it was curtains for national champion Sourabh Verma and Lakhanee Sarang. While Sourabh went down fighting against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-14 21-23 12-21, Lakhanee lost 11-21 5-21 to Kanta of Japan in the opening round. In the women’s singles, Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli is the only one competing after Saina Nehwal pulled out at the last moment and she will be facing Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani, seeded seventh. Rio Olympians Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will face top seeds Chai Biao and Hong Wei in the opening round of men’s doubles, while Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil will take on Germany’s Johanna Goliszewski and Lara Kaepplein in women’s doubles. In mixed doubles, Syed Modi International title winner Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face Swede Nico Ruponen and Amanda Hogstrom. The Indian pair of Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh will meet French combo of Bastian Kersaudy and Lea Palermo.