Syed Modi International: PV Sindhu leads top players' progress, Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponappa advance

It was a happy day for top Indian shuttlers.

Lucknow: Top Indian shuttler P V Sindhu advanced in women's singles, as men's section players K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap progressed to the second round after easy victories on the first day of the main draw in the Syed Modi International Badminton tournament here.

Also to progress were top Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa who sailed into the second round with an easy 21-6 21-14 win over English pair of Heather Olver and Laurem Smith in a 25-minute contest. They will now play against the Indian pair of N B Hazarika and Harika Veludurthi in the second round.

Srikanth hardly broke a sweat as he thrashed Vatannejad Soroush Eskandari of Iran 21-4 21-10 in just 18 minutes in his first round match at Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium. He will meet Joo Ven Soong of Malaysia in the second round.

Fourth seeded Kashyap, on the other hand, beat compatriot Oscar Bansal 21-18 21-11 in a 27-minute match to storm into the second round. He will play Zi Liang Derek Wong of Singapore in the second round.

Other Indians who won their first round men's singles matches include sixth seeded Ajay Jayaram, Sameer Verma, Anand Pawar, Sourabh Verma and B Sai Parneeth who also notched up easy straight-set wins.

However, fifth seed H S Prannoy and R M V Gurusaidutt were among the Indians who lost their men's first round singles matches.

In the women's singles, third seed Sindhu easily defeated competriot qualifier Mukherjee Riya 21-6 21-7 in her first round match. She will next meet unseeded Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the second round.