US Open Grand Prix Gold: B Sai Praneeth among six Indians advance to pre-quarterfinals

El Monte: Indian shuttlers had another good day at the US Open with six of them advancing to the singles pre-quarterfinals of the USD 120,000 Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament. [caption id=“attachment_695535” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Ajay Jayaram. AFP[/caption] In men’s singles, sixth seed B Sai Praneeth, who clinched the Canada Open Grand Prix last week at Calgary, defeated Canada’s B R Sankeerth 21-15 21-7 to set up a clash with Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai, who ended the campaign of India’s RMV Gurusaidutt 21-17 21-12 in another match. Fifth seed H S Prannoy brushed aside Ireland’s Joshua Magee 21-9 21-8 in a lop-sided contest and will take on Canada Open finalist Korea’s Lee Hyun Il. Young Pratul Joshi disposed off Czech Republic’s Milan Ludik 21-18 21-13 and will fight it out against fellow Indian Anand Pawar who defeated Austria’s David Obernosterer 21-12 21-9 in another match. Fourth seed Ajay Jayaram, who had hurt his shoulder at Calgary last week, also prevailed over Estonia’s Raul Must 21-14 21-9 and will take on Pedro Martins of Portugal next.

Good win today! Glad that my shoulder held up well. Looking to keep the momentum going. #USopengpg

— Ajay Jayaram (@ajay_289) July 7, 2016

In women’s singles, Tanvi Lad ended the run of Guatemala’s Nikte Alejandra Sotomayor 21-6 21-9 to set up a clash with USA’s Beiwen Zhang, seeded fifth. Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, however, had to swallow a bitter pill after her gallant fight ended with a narrow 19-21 21-15 18-21 loss to Ayumi Mine of Japan. Among others, Rio-bound Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on the Japanese combo of Kenya Mitsuhashi and Yuta Watanabe, while top seeds Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa gave a walkover in women’s doubles after the latter was laid low by a bout of viral fever. Another women’s doubles pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and S Poorvisha Ram will play against American combo of Ariel Lee and Sydney Lee. Pranaav Jerry Chopra and his men’s doubles partner Akshay Dewalkar and mixed doubles pair of Pranaav and N Sikki Reddy also withdrew from the event.