Praneeth, Prannoy, Jayaram, Sameer reach 2nd round at Basel

India made a resounding start to their campaign at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold with four Indian shuttlers advancing to the second round of the men’s singles competition, here.

Giant-killer B Sai Praneeth, who had stunned former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the opening round of the All England Championship last week, prevailed over Switzerland’s Mathias Bonny 21-14 13-21 21-6 to set up a meeting with Uzbekistan’s Artyom Savatyugin.

Eleventh seed Ajay Jayaram thrashed Malaysia’s Jiann Shiarng Chiang 21-8 21-17 in the first round match and will face Japan’s Kenichi Tago next.

H S Prannoy, seeded 13^th, also reached the second round after eking out a 21-19 21-19 win over Finland’s Kalle Koljonen. The Indian will take on Germany’s Lars Schaenzler in the next round.

Young Sameer Verma also continued to impress with a hard-fought 21-17 24-22 win over Denmark’s Emil Holst. He will face the formidable Wang Zhengming of China in the next round.

In women’s singles, two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal will take on Germany’s Karin Schnaase, while sixth seed P V Sindhu face off Chloe Magee of Ireland.