Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap Enter Second Round of German Open
Kidambi Srikanth, who lost the opening game, had to work hard for his win over Japan's Takuma Ueda while Parupalli Kashyap hardly broke a sweat against Ukraine's Artem Pochtarev in the first round of the German Open.
Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap crossed the opening hurdle to reach the second round of men's singles competition at the USD 120,000 German Grand Prix Gold. (Srikanth Hopes His 'Consistency' and 'Hard Work' Pay Off)
Srikanth, who clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold at Lucknow in January this year, saw off Japan's Takuma Ueda 12-21, 21-18, 21-11 in a hard-fought battle that lasted close to an hour on Tuesday night.
The sixth seeded Indian will face The Netherlands' Erik Meijs next.
Kashyap, on the other hand, had an easy outing on the opening day as he thrashed Ukraine's Artem Pochtarev 21-9, 21-9 in his first international match in more than a month. (Injured Parupalli Kashyap Pleads to Badminton Association of India)
The 11th seeded Indian, who was sidelined due to a series of injuries, will meet Irish qualifier Joshua Magee in the second round.
Young Indian shuttler Sameer Verma also notched up an easy win over Dmytro Zavadsky 21-9, 21-8 to set up a clash with Korea's Lee Dong Keun, seeded 15th.
Another Indian qualifier Kaushal Dharmamer lost to 14th seed Marc Zwiebler 21-4, 21-14 in the opening round.
Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will meet English pairing of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge.