Mumbai: Japan Super Series saw a pool of muddled emotions surging past the Indian athletes in the second round of the men’s singles competition of the Japan Open in Tokyo on Wednesday, as HS Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram and Kidambi Srikanth all headed forth to the next round.
The previous day Parupalli Kashyap came back with a bang as he procured a place in the main draw, only for him to lose to K Srikanth the following day.
The World No.13 Srikanth fought hard to secure his place in the second round, as he battled it out with the resurged-hero Kashyap. This was the only the second match of Kashyap after his knee injury layoff at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
After a relentless 62-minute Srikanth, took down his fellow competitor with a scoreline of 14-21, 21-14, 23-21.
B Sai Praneeth, who had acquired the Canada Open in July, before he went down against NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong with 21-9, 21-23, 10-21.
On a happy note, the 2016 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold champion HS Prannoy did well yet again, with a 23-21, 19-21, 21-18 hard win over Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin.
Ajay Jayaram was also seen to requite his 2013 Honk Kong Open defeat, by attaining a win against Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-19, 23-21 in a 46-minute match.
The coming match will see a wide array of talents; where, Jayaram will go up against Srikanth who reached the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics. Whereas, Pronnoy will lock his horns with the winner of the two- Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the bronze bearer at 2016 Rio Olympics or Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent, at No. 21 under the BWF rankings.