Seven Indians make it to the main draw of India Open

New Delhi: As many as seven Indians, including Olympian Anup Sridhar and young guns HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth, reached the main draw of the Indian Open Super Series at the Siri Fort sport complex.

In the men`s singles, Anup, Praneeth, Prannoy and Sourabh Verma notched up contrasting wins to reach the main draw that gets underway on Wednesday. Among girls, former National champion Trupti Murgunde, Sayali Gokhale and rising shuttler PV Sindhu also made their way into the main draw of the USD 200,000 event, the first ever super Series event in India. A fit-again Anup edged past K Nandagopal 21-14 25-23 after beating Vikram Saini 21-14 21-8 in the first round. The 28-year-old Bangalorean will take on world number two Taufik Hidayat in the first round of the main draw tomorrow. Prannoy beat Guaranshu Chopra 21-7 21-14 in the first round and then defeated Oscar Bansal 21-16-21-11 in the next to set up a clash against Wan Ho Shon of Korea. Praneeth too brushed aside Manish Gupta 21-5 21-7, before notching up a thrilling win over Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand 21-19 21-19. He will take on Wing Ki Wong of Thailand. Saurabh started off with a 21-15 21-17 win over Nigel Dsa and then played a hard-fought 21-12 20-22 21-12 match against Malaysian Chun Seang Tan in the second round to reach the next stage. He will play Sony Dwi Kuncoro. In the women`s singles, Trupti, who is coming back from her recurring back injury, thrashed Dhanya Nair 21-18 21-5 before getting past Anita Ohlan 21-15 21-14 in the second round. She will take on Aprilla Yuswandari of Indonesia. Sayali survived some nervous moments before getting past Tanvi Lad 20-22 21-19 21-15 in the first round and then saw off Dahinje Mudra 21-12 21-10 to set up a clash against Singaporean Jiayuan Chen.Young shuttler Sindhu beat PC Thulasi 21-18 21-15 in the first round, before reaching the main draw with a 21-13 21-18 win over Neha Pandit. The 15-year-old will take on eigth seed Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand. World Championship quarterfinalist Anup said he is fit now and is looking forward to his clash against Hidayat. "I won`t be overawed when I meet Taufik. I have beaten him in the past but it was four years back. I will take this match just like any other match, I know his game and he knows mine too, so looking forward to the match," said Anup, who beat Hidayat at the second round of 2007 World Championship. World Junior Championship semifinalist Praneeth, who is in his first year in the international circuit, said, "I have started off and I have to play lots of big tournaments, grand prix and challengers to improve my ranking. I will rest in May and then from June onwards I will plan to play tournaments."Trupti said she is very happy with her game at the moment and is not thinking much about tomorrow`s clash. "I haven`t played her before. I am back from my injury. I have ben battling it for the last 10 years but I am fit now. I will go there and enjoy tomorrow." "I was confident of making it to the main draw as I have beaten these girls before," he said. PTI