Vladivostock (Russia): Five Indian shuttlers, including Ajay Jayaram, progressed to the men’s singles second round of the USD 75,000 Russia Open BWF Tour Super 100 here Tuesday.
Jayaram, who finished runners-up at the White Nights International Challenge earlier this month, brushed aside Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng 21-14, 21-8 in the opening round match to set up a clash with compatriot Subhankar Dey, who got a bye in the first round.
Pratul Joshi dumped Canada’s Jeffrey Lam 21-11, 21-8 and will take on Israel’s Misha Zilberman at the Sport Hall Olympic Wednesday.
Among others, Mithun Manjunath, Siddharth Pratap Singh and Rahul Yadav Chittaboina also reached the second round. Mithun defeated Belgium’s Elias Bracke 21-14, 21-13, Siddharth beat Malaysia’s Jia Wei Tan 21-17, 21-16, while Rahul streamrolled Russia’s Maksim Makalov 21-11, 21-10.
While Rahul will face eighth seeded compatriot Sourabh Verma, Siddharth meets fellow Indian Bodhit Joshi. Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt, who got byes in their first round, will face Japan’s Ryotaro Maruo and Russia’s Vladimir Malkov respectively. Chirag Sen was also handed a bye in the first round and will take on top seeded Spaniard Pabo Abian.
In the women’s singles Wednesday, Vaidehi Choudhari, Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka, Vrushali Gummadi, Mugdha Agrey and Rituparna Das will be in action.
The men’s doubles team of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla will also begin their campaign Wednesday. The duo will take on local pair Vladimir Nikulov and Artem Serpionov.