Sindhu, Saina, Prannoy advance at Hong Kong Open

Hong Kong: Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy advanced to the second round while Parupalli Kashyap and the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy fell in the opening round of the Hong Kong Open Superseries on Wednesday.

While second seed Sindhu eased past Hong Kong's qualifier Leung Yuet Yee 21-18, 21-10, Saina registered a hard-fought 21-19, 23-21 win over Denmark's Mette Poulsen.

In the men's singles, Prannoy moved into the second round after a 19-21, 21-17, 21-15 win in an hour and one minute over Hong Kong's Hu Yun.

Kashyap lost 21-15, 9-21, 20-22 to South Korean Lee Dong Keun in an hour and nine minutes.

Sourabh Verma too exited the competition, losing to Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto 15-21, 8-21 in 30 minutes.

The women's doubles pair of Ashwini and Sikki fought hard but couldn't prevent China's Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei from advancing to the next round. The Chinese won 21-11, 19-21, 21-19 in 55 minutes.