New Zealand Open 2018: Praneeth, Ajay Jayaram progresses, as it happened

Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Lakshya Sen, Ajay Jayaram  progressed into second round at the Barfoot and Thompson New Zealand Open 2018.

Third seeded Praneeth eased into next round after ousting Misha Zilberman of Israel with 21-11, 21-19 of the opening match at the tournament.

Praneeth grabbed early five consecutive points to lead with 5-0 and surged to the break with eight points advantage with 11-3 to seal the first game. Second game was neck-to-neck between the players who reached 18-18 eventually. Praneeth with all his experience sealed the match in 41 minutes.

While the 30-year old Ajay Jayaram, defeated Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei with 21-23, 21-12, 21-18 in the gruelling opener to face Kwang Hee Heo in the second round.

In another match, fifth seeded Sameer Verma thrashed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia with 21-8, 21-10 in the 29-minute encounter.

16-year old emerging shuttler Lakshya Sen ousted June Wei Cheam of Malaysia with 21-11, 21-16 in the opening round and is likely to face Lin Dan in the second round.

Indian Women’s Singles shuttlers, Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka and Sai Uttejitha Rao made an early exit in the opening round after losing to Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen of Australia with 16-21, 19-21 and Yukino Nakai of Japan with 14-21, 13-21 in their respective matches.

Women’s Doubles duo Jakkampudi Meghana and S Ram Poorvisha, the only pair to represent India in the category, entered second round after defeating Erena Calder Hawkins and Jasmin Chung Man Ng of Australia with 21-17, 21-14.

In another Men’s Singles match, Karan Rajan Rajarajan lost to the eighth seeded Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the three games fight with 20-22, 21-12, 8-21 in the match that lasted for almost one hour.

While, the Men’s Doubles pair Francis Alwin and Kidambi Nandagopal lost to Sabar Karyaman and Frengky Wijaya Putra of Indonesia with 15-21, 13-21 on Wednesday.