Men’s Singles second seed Hu Yun was sent tumbling in the first round of the Li-Ning Singapore Open today.
Hu Yun’s vanquisher was none other than promising Indian youngster Sai Praneeth, who last week dealt same treatment to Indonesian icon Taufik Hidayat. Praneeth (BWF home page), who upset Hidayat in the first round of the Djarum Indonesia Open, took just 30 minutes to destroy the Hong Kong player, 21-9 21-10. The Indian was untroubled through the match and takes on Chong Wei Feng (Malaysia) who got past Praneeth’s compatriot Guru Sai Dutt in three games.
Kashyap Parupalli (7), also of India, was the other seed to bite the dust. Parupalli lost a 71-minute encounter to Takuma Ueda (Japan) 18-21 22-20 21-15.
In Men’s Doubles, World and Olympic champions Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (China) ran into surprising resistance from qualifiers Andrei Adistia/Markus Fernaldi Gideon (Indonesia). The Chinese just about squeaked through 25-23 21-18 after saving five game points in the first game. The second game was also close but Cai and Fu (left) kept their lead and took the match.
There were no surprises in Women’s Singles. Second seed Saina Nehwal (India) avenged her recent Thailand Open quarter-final loss to Gu Juan (Singapore), beating the Singaporean 21-14 23-21 after saving a game point.
HIGHLIGHTS:
* It was a good day for Gabby White of England as she won both her matches. White and Chris Adcock (below) overcame the difficult challenge of sixth seeds Robert Mateusiak/Nadiezda Zieba (Poland) in Mixed Doubles, 21-15 21-19, before White returned alongside Lauren Smith for Women’s Doubles. White and Smith managed a narrow 21-16 19-21 21-19 victory over Yuriko Miki/Koharu Yonemoto (Japan).
* In Mixed Doubles, the biggest upset was that of Thai pair Songphon Anugritayawon/Kunchala Voravichitchaikul to qualifiers Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan from India. The Indians, ranked No. 50 to the Thais’ No. 21, turned the tables with a 21-17 19-21 21-12 result.
* The longest match of the day was the Men’s Singles face-off between Marc Zwiebler (Germany) and Chen Yuekun (China). Zwiebler held off a battling Chen to ensure a 19-21 22-20 21-17 win in 74 minutes.
Text by Dev Sukumar | Badmintonphoto
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