Sindhu and Saina up for qualifier at India Open, Prannoy ousted due to corns

PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal progressed into the second round while HS Prannoy had to make an early exit due to the corns on his feet at the India Open Super 500 badminton tournament on Wednesday.

The mandatory rule for top shuttlers to play minimum of 12 tournaments in the calendar year, which is creating disputes from the players around the world, has already started showing the effects. World No. 10 Prannoy had to give away match in the first round of the tournament to his compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal as he was suffering from corns on his feet. He took 13 minutes to wind up the match with 4-21, 6-21.

Indonesia Masters champion Saina Nehwal defeated Denmark’s Sofie Holmboe Dahl with 21-15, 21-9 in women’s singles, while defending champion Sindhu got past another Dane Natalia Koch Rohde with 21-10, 21-13. Saina will face Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, while Sindhu will take on Bulgaria's Linda Zetchiri next.

After skipping Indonesia Masters due to minor injury, Kidambi Srikanth playing his first tournament of the season. World No. 3 defeated Malaysia’s Lee Cheuk Yiu with 21-17, 21-18 in the opening round to face Iskandar Zulkarnain in the qualifier.

Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap also heaved a sigh of relief after stunning World No. 17 Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21-14, 21-18.

Crammed schedule is a big challenge which in turn has many rules. Prannoy who already had missed Malaysia and Indonesia Masters, explained, “I had to participate in the India Open because of the new BWF rule of mandatory 12 tournaments. I could not even concede the match because I have a compatriot as opponent and according to BWF rules. If you concede against the same country opponent, you won't get ranking points.”

“BWF does not see any genuine reason. There is no flexibility. I have already missed a couple of tournaments so I thought I would play here rather than missing tournaments probably in the later part of the year. Later, I would be running around. It will be a problem then,” he added.

Saina also slammed the BWF and asked for a reduction in the number of mandatory tournaments for top players.

Prannoy, who developed corns on his feet during Premier Badminton League, said, “I had developed corns in my foot in 2-3 places and I went for a treatment but the Hyderabad doctor seems did not do it properly, so infection happened.”

“I will go for another procedure tomorrow. I could not train and pick up the racquet first time in 15 days. I hope to recover and play at All England,” he added.

Among other Indians, B Sai Praneeth had to stretch the match to see dump 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph 21-11, 17-21, 21-17, while Aakarshi Kashyap, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Mugdha Agrey too crossed the first hurdle in women's singles.

Sameer Verma too shocked seventh seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark 22-20, 21-8 and will clash with Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in round two on Thursday.

While, Ajay Jayaram exited the tournament at 0-2 of first game in the opening round against Tommy Sugiarto, and Sourabh Verma went down to the Chinese fourth seeded Shi Yuqi in another match with 19-21, 11-21.

In the doubles matches, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy prevailed over Indonesian pair of Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 16-21, 21-17, 21-17, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa dumped Raju Mohamed Rehan and J Anees Kowsar 21-9, 21-10, while Ashiwni and Sikki in the women’s doubles match entered the second round.

The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty, who reached the semifinals at Indonesia Masters last week, notched up a 21-18, 21-14 win over Hong Kong pair of Chang Tak Ching and Hee Chun Mak.

Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also defeated qualifiers Adarsh Kumar and Jagadish Yadav, winning 21-7, 21-13 in another men's doubles match.