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Sindhu, Kashyap advance; Prannoy, Manu-Sumeeth lose at Korea Open
Seoul, Sep 13 (IANS) P.V. Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap entered the second round, while H.S. Prannoy, the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa — in both the doubles and mixed doubles — lost in the Korea Open Superseries badminton championships here on Wednesday.
B. Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the second round.
Sourabh Verma lost his first round clash to Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 21-18, 13-21, 19-21 in an hour and three minutes.
Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu opened her campaign by beating Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi 21-13, 21-8 in 34 minutes.
Sindhu, who finished runner-up in the World Championships last month, will meet Thai Nitchaon Jindapol in the second round.
Kashyap defeated Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-13, 21-16 in 35 minutes. The Indian will face South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho in the next round.
Sameer upset Thai eighth seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-13, 21-23, 21-9 in 54 minutes.
The Satwik-Chirag pair got past Chinese Taipei’s Lee Sheng Mu and Lin Chia Yu 21-9, 22-24, 21-12 in 51 minutes.
The Indian young pair will take on Chinese Taipei seventh seeds Lee Jhe-Huei and Lee Yang on Thursday.
Satwik, however, suffered a loss in the mixed doubles category. He and Ashwini lost to Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet 18-21, 19-21.
Ashwini suffered another loss in the women’s doubles. She and N. Sikki Reddy lost to Malaysians Fie Cho Soong and Jing Yi Tee 21-19, 13-21, 17-21 in 52 minutes.
Praneeth defeated Chinese Hu Yun 21-15, 21-10 in 29 minutes.
Prannoy suffered a 17-21, 23-21, 14-21 defeat against Hong Kong sixth seed NG Ka Long Angus.
The Manu-Sumeeth pair lost to South Koreans Chung Eui Seok and Kim Duk Young 11-21, 10-21 in 25 minutes.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.