Praneeth, Ashwini-Sikki advance at Malaysia Masters

Sibu (Malaysia) Jan 17 (IANS) India s B. Sai Praneeth and the women s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the $120 000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Praneeth got past Thailand s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-13 21-13 in 44 minutes in the first round.

Ashwini-Sikki took only 25 minutes to ease past Germany s Johanna Goliszewski and Lara Kaepplein 21-15 21-12.

In the men s singles category Danish reignging world champion Viktor Axelsen became the sole survivor among the top players as China s Lin Dan Chen Long South Korea s Son Wan-ho and Malaysian veteran Lee Chong Wei were eliminated in the first round reports Xinhua news agency.

Lin Dan lost 16-21 21-18 and 17-21 to Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia while Lee Chong Wei ended a 78-minute struggle losing to Japan s Kenta Nishimoto 21-19 18-21 19-21.

Rio Olympic champion Chen Long admitted that his 17-21 15-21 loss to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting was due to the effect of an early foul but vowed to come back in a better shape in the Malaysia Open in June.

Another upset on the day saw South Korean fourth seed Son Wan-ho losing 15-21 13-21 to Daren Liew of Malaysia.

--IANS
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