PENANG (MALAYSIA), Jan 20: Indian shuttlers including PV Sindhu and K Srikanth made a rousing start to the new season, reaching the second round of the USD 120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold here today.
Sindhu, Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Subhankar Dey, B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma outclassed their opponents in the opening round of their respective singles event, while the pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a stunning win to make their way into the women�s doubles second round.
A little over two weeks after their stints at the Premier Badminton League, Indian shuttlers rushed to participate in the first Grand Prix Gold event of the season and it was a fruitful outing in the opening round.
Two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, Sindhu, seeded third, thrashed Switzerland�s Sabrina Jaquet 21-17, 21-16 in a 33-minute battle, while 2014 China Open winner Srikanth brushed aside Malaysia�s Wei Feng Chong 21-17, 21-11.
10th seed Ajay Jayaram, who had a good outing for Delhi Acers at PBL, sent packing Japan�s Takuma Ueda 21-19, 21-11 while TATA Open winner Sameer stunned Japan�s Sho Sasaki, seeded 12th, 21-18, 21-18 in another men�s singles match.
Sai Praneeth defeated Malaysia�s Shahzan Shah Misfahul 21-13, 21-15 while new kid Subhankar Dey, notched up a 21-19, 21-16 win over Thailand�s Kantaphon Wangcharoen in another men�s singles clash.
2010 Commonwealth Games champions, Jwala and Ashwini also showed their prowess, edging out Malaysian combo of Mei Kuan Chow and Lee Meng Yean 21-14, 14-21, 25-23 in a 54-minute hard-fought clash. � PTI
