Thailand Open: Sai Praneeth, Sourabh Verma cruise into third round

Bangkok: Sai Praneeth and Sourabh Verma advanced to the third round of the USD 120,000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold after notching up contrasting wins in the men's singles competition, here today.

Sourabh, seeded 12th, survived a challenge from compatriot Anand Pawar 21-17 20-22 21-14, while third seed Praneeth, who won the Singapore Open last month, defeated Malaysia's R Satheishtharan 21-15 21-13 in another match.

Young shuttler Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka dished out a gallant fight to reach the second round with a 13-21 24-22 27 -25 win over Indonesia's Jesica Muljati in women's singles that lasted an hour and 16 minutes.

However, it turned out to be a dismal day for other Indians with P Kashyap, Shreyansh Jaiswal and Subhankar Dey bowing out of the men's singles competition, while Reshma Karthik and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde faltered in the opening round of women's singles.

Kashyap, who had defeated Slovekia's Milan Dratva 21-6 21-14 in his opening match that started past midnight, went down 14-21 18-21 to second seeded Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the second round match, which took place in less than 12 hours of his first-round clash.

Shreyansh lost 9-21 18-21 to local shuttler Suppanyu Avihingsanon, while Malaysian Daren Liew ended Subhankar's campaign with a 10-21 21-15 21-19 win.

While Reshma lost 14-21 12-21 to Indonesia's Susanto Yulia Yosephin, Ruthvika went down 18-21 11-21 to another Indonesian player Sri Fatmawati.

Women's doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram also crashed out after losing 10-21 18-21 to Indonesian combo of Tania Oktaviani Kusumah and Nisak Puji Lestari.

Prajakta Sawant and her Malaysian partner Yogendran Khrishnan lost 13-21 12-21 to local combo of Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn and Chasinee Korepap in mixed doubles.

In men's doubles, Arjun M R and Ramchandran Shlok's spirited effort ended in a 21-15 12-21 13-21 loss to local shuttlers Tinn Isriyanet and Kittisak Namdash.

Francis Alwin and Tarun Kona also lost 9-21 18-21 to Singapore combo of Yong Kai Terry Hee and Kean Hean Loh.