Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap stormed into the second round of the $120,000 New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold at the North Shore Events Centre after winning their respective opening rounds of the men’s singles event here on Tuesday.
Fourth-seed Prannoy, who recently clinched US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament title, swept aside Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito to post a comfortable 21-14, 21-16 win in a one-sided clash that lasted 36 minutes.
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Kashyap, on the other hand, took just 22 minutes to ease past Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 21-5, 21-10 and make progress.
Prannoy will now lock horns with Indonesia’s Firman Abdul Kholik while Kashyap will cross swords with local shuttler Oscar Guo on Wednesday.
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Ajay Jayaram, another Indian in the fray, suffered a major setback as he got knocked out of the ongoing tournament after going down in straight games against Chia Hung Lu of Chinese Taipei.
{{/usCountry}}Ajay Jayaram, another Indian in the fray, suffered a major setback as he got knocked out of the ongoing tournament after going down in straight games against Chia Hung Lu of Chinese Taipei.
{{/usCountry}}The second-seed suffered a 19-21, 13-21 defeat to Hung Lu in the first round of men’s singles event that lasted almost half an hour.