Ton-up Mandhana, Rawal help India sweep series

An avalanche of runs

- Shalini Gupta

NEW DELHI: HS Prannoy and Priyanshu Rajawat went down fighting, but former national champion Anupama Upadhyaya progressed to the second round in a mixed day for home shuttlers at the Indian Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Priyanshu put up a valiant fight before succumbing 16-21, 22-20, 13-21 to world number 7 Kodai Naraoka of Japan in a physical battle that lasted an hour and 22 minutes. Meanwhile, Prannoy was defeated by Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 18-21, 12-21 on the adjacent court. In women's singles, Anupama defeated compatriot and academy mate Rakshitha Sree 21-17, 21-18 to reach the second round. The two Gopichand Academy trainees, who share a close bond off the court, exchanged friendly banter and mutual admiration after the match. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who clinched the Guwahati Masters title last month, eased past Kavya Gupta and Radhika Sharma 21-11, 21-12 to also advance to the second round. The Panda sisters, Rutuparna and Swetaparna, also advanced to the second round with a remarkable come-from-behind win, overcoming Thailand's Phattharin Aiamvaree-srisakul and Sarisa Janpeng 7-21, 21-19, 21-14.

In the morning, Aakarshi Kashyap fell to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 17-21, 13-21 in the opening round.