Ponnappa-Reddy, Kashyap survive amidst slew of upsets in Hyderabad Open
India’s top-ranked women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy survived a scare in their opening match of the Hyderabad Open to beat Malaysian duo of Pearly Tan Koong Le and Muralitharan Thinaah 21-13, 13-21, 21-16.
Apart from Ponnappa-Reddy though, it was a rather disappointing day for the Indian fans as some of their top ranked men’s singles players like Sameer Verma, Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy bowed out in their first matches of the tournament.
Verma was shocked by South Korean youngster Heo Kwang-Hee, beating the 13th ranked Indian 21-18, 21-11 in straight games.
Prannoy also suffered a straight-games (21-17, 21-10) defeat against 170th ranked Malaysian shuttler Jia Wei Tan, while Praneeth ended up second best in a closely fought contest against 19-year-old Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay.
In the women’s singles category too there was disappointment for India, as Shikha Gautam could not continue her good form from the qualification game and slumped to a 21-11, 21-13 loss.
A few bright spots
Following these unexpected early exits, India’s top-ranked men’s singles player remaining in the Hyderabad Open is Parupalli Kashyap, who valiantly fought off a challenge from South Korean Kim Dong Hun to win 23-21, 19-21, 21-17.
India’s top-ranked men’s doubles pair of the tournament, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy also continued their crusade in the competition after they fought back from behind to win their match 16-21, 21-8, 21-13. They will now play their next game on Thursday against Tanupat Viriyangkura and Inkarat Apisuk of Thailand.
Ponnappa and Reddy will also play next on Thursday, like Kashyap who faces Singaporean Loh Kean Yew in his Round 3 clash of the 2019 Hyderabad Open.