India had a mixed day in office in Sydney with top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma progressing to the second round of the USD 150,000 Australian Open World Tour Super 300 tournament on Wednesday.
Other shuttlers progressing were Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth in men’s singles, and Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles.
Later in the day, HS Prannoy was knocked out in the opening round after a 21-18, 21-19 loss against Lin Dan in 50 minutes.
World No 5 Sindhu, a silver medallist at Rio Olympics and 2017 and 2018 World championship, defeated Indonesia’s Choirunnisa 21-14, 21-9 in a lop-sided contest in women’s singles.
The Indian will meet experienced Thai Nitchaon Jindapol next.
Sixth seed Sameer exacted revenge against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-15, 16-21, 21-12 in a thrilling opening round men’s singles match. The Indian had lost to Lee at the Sudirman Cup last month.
The 25-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, who had reached the semifinals at World Tour Finals, will square off against Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei in second round.
Among others, former Singapore Open champion Sai Praneeth, who had reached the finals at Swiss Open this year, beat higher-ranked Korean Lee Dong Keun 21-16, 21-14, to set up a clash with second seed Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting next.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj and Chirag defeated compatriots Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy 21-12, 21-16 to enter the second round.
The young duo will next fight it out against second seeded Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen.
However, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 14-21 13-21 to Korean combination of Baek Ha Na and Kim Hye Rin.
2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kashyap ended the day for the Indian contingent on a winning note, beating Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-16, 21-15 in 44 minutes. He will now face Lin Dan in the second round.
(With PTI inputs)