India Open: Men fall by wayside, Anupama in Rd 2

new delhi: Former national champion Anupama Upadhyaya advanced to the second round but India’s men’s singles campaign suffered a setback as none of the players could make it past the opening round on Day 2 of the India Open here on Wednesday.

For all the talk of home advantage, Kiran George was the only Indian to survive in the men’s singles as Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat and HS Prannoy all suffered contrasting defeats at the $950,000 Super 750 tournament.

In the women’s singles, Anupama joined PV Sindhu in the second round, defeating her good friend and fellow Gopichand Academy trainee Rakshitha Sree 21-17 21-18.

Priyanshu put up a valiant fight before succumbing 16-21, 22-20, 13-21 to world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka of Japan in a physical battle that lasted an hour and 22 minutes. Meanwhile, Prannoy was defeated by Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei 21-16 18-21 12-21 on the adjacent court.

Lakshya, who won the Syed Modi International Super 300 title last month, sunk to a 15-21 10-21 loss to Chinese Taipei’s Chun Yi-Lin in another opening-round match.

Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa eased past Kavya Gupta and Radhika Sharma 21-11, 21-12 to advance to the second round in the women’s doubles section.

In the morning, Aakarshi Kashyap fell to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 17-21, 13-21 in the opening round.