Denmark Open: Sindhu, Praneeth advance; Kashyap exits

Odense, Oct 15 (IANS) World champion P.V. Sindhu and B. Sai Praneeth made impressive starts to their campaign at the Denmark Open while Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma crashed out early after losing their first-round matches.Sindhu registered a straight game win over Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the women's singles competition. She defeated former World Junior Champion Gregoria 22-20, 21-18 in 38 minutes.World championships bronze medallist B. Sai Praneeth also entered the second round after he outclassed China's Lin Dan 21-14, 21-17 in a 35-minute opening round clash.He will now likely be up against world No. 1 and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan, to whom he lost at the World Championships recently in Switzerland.However, it was the end of the road for Parupalli Kashyap, who had reached the semi-finals at the Korea Open, as he went down to Thailand's Sitthikom Thammasin 13-21, 12-21 in the men's singles event.National champion Sourabh Verma also made an early exit after losing 21-19, 11-21, 17-21 to Netherlands Mark Caljouw in 68 minutes.In the men's doubles contest, Thailand Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty registered a win as they defeated the South Korean pair of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae 24-22, 21-11 in the 39-minute affair.
--IANS kk/bg