Ajay Jayaram, Prannoy begin with wins

Ajay Jayaram and H.S. Prannoy advanced to the second round but it was curtains for B. Sai Praneeth in the men’s singles opening round of the $700,000 Denmark Open badminton tournament, at Odense on Tuesday.

Jayaram, who had reached the finals at Dutch Open last week, notched up a 21-15, 21-16 win over Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana. He will take on the winner of the match between Chinese qualifier Shi Yuqi and third seed and local favourite Jan O. Jorgensen.

On his comeback trail after a spate of injuries, Prannoy registered a hard-fought 21-13, 19-21, 22-20 win over Malaysia’s Wei Feng Chong in a match that lasted an hour and three minutes.

Swiss Open champion Prannoy will face the winner of the match between top seed Malaysian Lee Chong Wei and Hong Kong’s Wei Nan.

However, Sai Praneeth, who had clinched the Canada Open in July, lost 17-21, 21-19, 15-21 to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand.

In the men’s doubles, Rio Olympians Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 10-21, 19-21 loss to Denmark’s Kim Aastrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.