sydney, 19 November. Five Indian shuttlers, including Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth, made a stellar start to enter the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals at the $475,000 Australian Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Wednesday. Apart from these three stalwarts, Ayush Shetty and Tharun Mannepalli were also successful in crossing the first hurdle.

Lakshya Sen advances with straight game win

World number 14 Lakshya, who reached the semi-finals at the Japan Open last week, defeated Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 21-13 on court number four of Sydney Olympic Park. World Championship 2021 bronze medalist seventh seed Lakshya will next face Chi Yu Jen.

Prannoy’s struggling comeback after losing the first game

In this competition, 2023 runner-up Prannoy recovered from a bad start and defeated world number 85 Johannes Saut Marcelino 6-21, 21-12, 21-17 in 57 minutes. World number 35 Prannoy will now face eighth seed Alvi Farhan of Indonesia.

Srikanth wins three-game clash against Lee Chia

World Championship 2021 silver medalist veteran Kidambi Srikanth also had to struggle for 64 minutes but defeated Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chia Hao 21-19, 19-21, 21-15 to secure a place in the pre-quarterfinals. The 41st-ranked Srikanth, who finished runner-up at the Malaysia Masters earlier this year, will next face Japan’s Shogo Ogawa.

Ayush Shetty will now compete with seeded Naraoka

Meanwhile, Ayush Shetty, who is ranked 32nd in the world and won his first Super 300 title at the US Open earlier this year, defeated Canada’s Sam Yuan 21-11, 21-15 in 33 minutes. This 20-year-old player from Karnataka will face fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the second round.

Macau Open semi-finalist Tharun Mannepalli also defeated Magnus Johansen of Denmark 21-13, 17-21, 21-19 in a match that lasted 66 minutes. National Games 2023 gold medalist world number 42 Mannepalli will next face fifth seed Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei.

Kiran George lost to Nishimoto in a tough fight

Meanwhile, despite presenting a tough challenge, Kiran George lost to sixth seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-11, 22-24, 17-21. Nishimoto had defeated Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals of the Japan Masters last week. On the other hand, in the mixed doubles, the Indian pair of Mohit Jaglan and Lakshita Jaglan was also eliminated by Canada’s Nile Yakura and Crystal Lai by defeating them 12-21, 16-21.