India Open: Kidambi Srikanth sets up quarterfinal clash with Sai Praneeth

CHENNAI: Setbacks have been the flavour of the 2019 India Open so far. While Shubankar Dey stunned World No 9 Tommy Sugiarto on Wednesday, Sai Praneeth was stretched against a lower-ranked opponent in Gulshan Kumar in the first round. 

On Thursday too, there were signs of struggles from top Indians in action. B Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the quarterfinals of the India Open with contrasting wins. Meanwhile, PV Sindhu thrashed Hong Kong’s Deng Joy Xuan 21-11, 21-13 in the women’s singles. Olympic silver medallist Sindhu will next face Denmark’s eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt, who had won the Barcelona Spain Masters

Praneeth, who got the better of compatriot Sameer Verma 18-21, 21-16, 21-15 said that playing against Indians is tougher than how it looks. Sparring against each other in the same academy multiple times, one would assume that both will know how to exploit each other’s weaknesses. However, Praneeth feels that you run out of ideas.

“We know each other’s weaknesses and strengths. But with nobody to help with strategies, you have to think on your own,” Praneeth said. “I think with him, the mental block would never go away. If he wins, it would be good for the next rounds but here even the next round has Srikanth, so the confidence after winning also is not of much importance.” 

Meanwhile, Kashyap dished out a superb game to get rid of Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-11, 21-13 in the pre-quarterfinal contest. While Praneeth will face Kidambi Srikanth next, Kashyap takes on Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei. Srikanth beat China’s Lu Guangzu 21-11, 21-16.

Riya Mookerjee too showed the stomach to fight before losing 8-21, 21-17, 13-21 to eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. The women’s doubles pair of Aparna Balan and Sruthi KP edged out Hong Kong duo of Wing Yung and Yeung Nga Ting 21-19, 7-21, 21-17, while the men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Shivam Sharma beat Aniruddha Mayekar and Vinay Kumar Singh 21-15, 21-11 in the other match.