Swiss Open: Srikanth, P Kashyap, Saina make winning start, Chirag-Satwiksairaj move into pre-quarters

Basel, March 23 (IANS) Top India shuttlers — Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal made a winning start in their respective events while the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament, here on Wednesday.
Srikanth defeated Danish player Mads Christophersen 21-16, 21-17 in the men’s singles opening round match, which lasted for 32 minutes.
Parupalli Kashyap also registered a 21-17, 21-9 win over France’s Enogat Roy to enter the second round. On the other hand, in an all-India contest, H S Prannoy beat B Sai Praneeth 25-23, 21-16 in a match, which lasted for 48 minutes.
Meanwhile, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy beat the Indonesian duo of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana 17-21, 21-11, 21-18 to move into the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament.
In the women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha registered a come-from-behind win over France’s LéOnice Huet, prevailing 19-21, 21-10, 21-11. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina defeated Yaelle Hoyaux 21-8, 21-13 in her opening round match.
However, the mixed doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy lost their first round match. The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also lost their match.
Two time olympic medallist P V Sindhu will play her opening round later on Wednesday.

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