Veteran warhorse Sony Dwi Kuncoro fought into the Men’s Singles main draw of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2016 that began today.
Kuncoro, playing his first World Superseries event since his home BCA Indonesia Open in June last year, out-duelled India’s Anand Pawar in the tightest Men’s Singles match of the day. The loss of the second game did not faze the Indonesian, and he pulled off a 21-12 18-21 21-15 victory over Pawar to make the main draw against another Indian, Sai Praneeth.
While Kuncoro has rarely been seen in Superseries action, the Indonesian has chalked up a couple of titles over the last few months – the Indonesia International Challenge and the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix.
Former Men’s Singles runner-up Kenichi Tago’s wretched form showed no signs of abating as he was stopped in the second qualifying round. Tago, runner-up to Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei in 2013 and architect of Japan’s Thomas Cup victory at the same stadium less than two years ago, could not find his way past the doughty defence of India’s Sourabh Verma (featured image), in a 21-18 21-12 loss. Verma’s younger brother Sameer however was beaten by Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto; the Japanese then outclassed Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng to make the main draw against third seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark.
While Sourabh Verma earned a showdown with No.4 seed Lin Dan (China), Nishimoto’s compatriot and
fellow-qualifier Kazumasa Sakai will hope to surprise top seed Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia).
All four Women’s Singles qualifying spots were taken by host players. Ruthvika Shivani had little trouble disposing of Nigeria’s Grace Gabriel, 21-16 21-18, while Tanvi Lad had it easier against Egypt’s Hadia Hosny, 21-6 21-10. Rituparna Das and Anura Prabhudesai won contests against their compatriots to advance to the main draw. Shivani and Tanvi Lad face formidable first round opponents in China’s Wang Shixian and India’s Saina Nehwal respectively.
Qualifiers:
Men’s Singles: Sourabh Verma (India), Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia), Kazumasa Sakai (Japan), Kenta Nishimoto (Japan)
Women’s Singles: Ruthvika Shivani, Tanvi Lad, Anura Prabhudesai, Rituparna Das (all India)
Men’s Doubles: Arjun Kumar Reddy/Santosh Ravuri; Ketan Chahal/Deepak Khatri; Raj Kumar Chander/Love Kumar; Chandra Yadav/Brijesh Yadav (all India)
Women’s Doubles: Komal Antil/Lalita Dahiya; Nimmi Patel/Saruni Sharma; Smriti Nagarkoti/Parssa Naqvi; Rupal Anand/Prabhjyot Kour (all India)
Mixed Doubles: Vinay Kumar Singh/Gauri Asaji; Manu Attri/Ashwini Ponnappa; Vishal Thakran/Seema Panchal; Raju Mohamed Rehan/Anees Kowsar (all India)
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