Badminton: PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy advance at Hong Kong Open

PV Sindhu (left) and Saina Nehwal

Hong Kong: Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy advanced to the second round while Parupalli Kashyap and the women`s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy fell in the opening round of the Hong Kong Open Superseries on Wednesday.

While second-seed Sindhu eased past Hong Kong`s qualifier Leung Yuet Yee 21-18, 21-10, Saina registered a hard-fought 21-19, 23-21 win over Denmark`s Mette Poulsen.

In the men`s singles, Prannoy moved into the second round after a 19-21, 21-17, 21-15 win in an hour and one minute over Hong Kong`s Hu Yun.

Kashyap lost 21-15, 9-21, 20-22 to South Korean Lee Dong Keun in an hour and nine minutes.

Sourabh Verma too exited the competition, losing to Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto 15-21, 8-21 in 30 minutes.

The women`s doubles pair of Ashwini and Sikki fought hard but couldn`t prevent China`s Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei from advancing to the next round. The Chinese won 21-11, 19-21, 21-19 in 55 minutes.