Nehwal, Prannoy enter second round of Hong Kong Open

Kowloon [Hong Kong], Nov.23 (ANI): Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal survived an early scare from Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk to reach the second round of the women's singles event at the Hong Kong Open Super Series here on Wednesday. The fifth-seed, who remained sidelined for about two and a half months due to a knee injury, lost the first game before she bounced back in style to register a 12-21, 21-19, 21-17 win over her Thailand opponent in a thrilling first-round contest that lasted about an hour. With the win, Nehwal has now set up a clash against Japan's Sayaka Sato for a place in the quarter-finals. It was Nehwal's first win since making a comeback to international arena after undergoing surgery of her right knee after struggling at the Rio Olympic 2016. In the men's singles event, H.S Prannoy and Sameer Verma have also stormed into the next round after clinching straight-game victories over their respective opponents. While Prannoy swept aside Qiao Bin of China 21-16, 21-18 to book his place in the pre-quarters, Sameer claimed a 22-20, 21-18 win over Japan's Takuma Ueda. Meanwhile, the Indian duo of Manu Attri and Reddy B. Sumeeth were knocked out of the tournament after going down 15-21, 8- 21 at the hands of Korean pair of Choi Sol-gyu and KO Sung Hyun. (ANI)