Hong Kong Open Super Series: Saina Nehwal sails into second round; Parupalli Kashyap, Sourabh Verma falter at opening hurdle

Saina Nehwal cruised into the second round of the Hong Kong Open Super Series event but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma as they were knocked out of the tourney in the opening round on Wednesday.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina fended off a spirited challenge from World No 44 Mette Poulsen of Denmark 21-19 23-21 in a 46-minute match.

World No 11 Saina, who won the bronze at the World Championship, shall take on a tough opponent in eighth seeded Chinese Chen Yufei, who had clinched the other bronze at the Glasgow tournament in August.

In men's singles competition, Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap squandered an opening game advantage to go down narrowly 21-15 9-21 20-22 to Korean Lee Dong Keun in a match that lasted an hour and nine minutes.

Sourabh, meanwhile, failed to put up a fight against Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto, losing 15-21 8-21 to bow out of the competition. 

With Inputs from PTI