Kashyap, Prannoy start with wins at badminton Worlds

Jakarta, Aug 10:

Top Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and H.S. Prannoy got off to winning starts at the World Championships with straight game victories in men’s singles at the 9,000-seater Istora Senayan here on Monday.

However, it was the end of the road for two Indian pairs — Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan and Tarun Kona/N. Sikki Reddy — who lost their respective openers.

Tenth seed Kashyap took just 31 minutes to move past Dutchman Erik Meijs 21-17, 21-10. With the win the reigning Commonwealth Games champion extended his winning streak over Meijs to 2-0.

Later, 11th seed Prannoy also had an easy win, coming out on top 21-12, 21-16 over Brazil’s Alex Yuwan Tjong in 31 minutes. This was World No.12 Prannoy’s first match against the World No.109 Brazilian. The Kerala shuttler will next meet Edwin Ekiring of Uganda.

In mixed doubles action, Russian Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova had a tough mixed doubles match but eventually defeated the Indian pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan. The Russians won 21-18, 10-21, 24-22 in 49 minutes.

Tarun Kona and N. Sikki Reddy also lost their first round match, going down 13-21, 17-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Liao Min Chun and Chen Hsiao Huan in 28 minutes. (IANS)