Srikanth, Praneeth, Prannoy make winning start

Basel (Switzerland): Indian shuttlers had a good day in office at the BWF World Championships with the men’s singles trio of Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy advancing to the second round here on Monday.
Former World No 1 Srikanth, who has not won a title at the BWF World Tour in the last 22 months, stave off a spirited a challenge from Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 17-21 21-16 21-6 in a match that lasted an hour and six minutes to join Praneeth and Prannoy in the second round. Srikanth, who is coming back after recovering from a knee problem, will face Israel’s Misha Zilberman. Praneeth, ranked 19th, who has been conferred with the Arjuna Award, defeated 66th-ranked Jason Anthony Ho-Shue of Canada 21-17, 21-16 in a first round clash lasting 39 minutes. He is likely to take on Lee Dong Keun of Korea next. In another men’s singles first round match, world number 30 Prannoy, who is on a comeback trial after recovering from a stomach problem, fought back to beat 93rd-ranked Eetu Heino of Finland 17-21, 21-10, 21-11. The former world No 8 will face Chinese legend Lin Dan, now seeded 11th, in the second round. Prannoy had defeated Lin Dan at the 2018 Indonesia Open and 2015 French Open. India also got a favourable result in the women’s doubles with Meghana Jakkampudi and S Poorvisha Ram getting past the Guatemala pairing of Diana Corleto Soto and Nikte Alejandra Sotomayor 21-10, 21-18 to enter the second round. P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have received a bye in the opening round and will start their campaign on Wednesday. Indian doubles pairs, including Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, will begin their campaign on Tuesday.