Nagpur: Indian shuttlers got off to a wonderful start in the Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix Badminton at Almere, Netherlands, on Wednesday.
As many as seven Indian players advanced into the men's singles second round. To mark the perfect day, Arundhati Pantawane and PV Sindhu and two Indian mixed doubles pairs also won their first round encounters.
In-form Arundhati knocked out No. 3 seed Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand 21-12, 21-12. The unseeded city shuttler made the light work of world No. 21 in just 26 minutes. It was the biggest career win for Arundhati, who is ranked 72 in the world.
"Today's win is definitely my one of the most memorable one. More than the win, the way I dominated her gave me plenty of satisfaction. I played really well today," Arundhati told TOI soon after the win.
The 22-year-old Arundhati will now have a chance to avenge her Czech Open final defeat in the next round when she faces Kristina Gavnholt of Czech Republic on Thursday.
INDIAN RESULTS (ROUND 1)
Women's singles: Arundhati Pantawane bt 3-Salakjit Ponsana (Tha) 21-12, 21-11; PV Sindhu bt 4-Juan Gu (Sin) 21-12, 21-19.
Men's singles: HS Prannoy bt Jordy Hilbink (Ned) 21-16, 21-11; Anand Pawar walkover Sven Eric Kastens (Ger); B Sai Praneeth bt Ralph Starren (Ned) 21-10, 21-14; K Nandagopal bt Stanislav Pukhov (Rus) 21-16, 21-18; Chetan Anand bt Vladimir Ivanov (Rus) 20-22, 21-13, 21-11; Arvind Bhat bt Gabriel Ulldahl (Swe) 21-18, 12-21, 21-15; Anup Sridhar lost to Anthony Dumartheray (Sui) 1-0 (retired).
Mixed doubles: Akshay Dewalkar-Pradnya Gadre bt Kuan Hao Liao-Pei Hsin Chiang (TPE) 21-8, 19-21, 21-19; Pranav Chopra-Prajakta Sawant bt Rikkert Suijkerland-Lisa Malaihollo (Ned) 21-15, 18-21, 21-10.
The Times Of India