India Open: Sameer Verma stuns world No 5 Son Wan Ho

New Delhi: Star shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal began their India Open Superseries campaign with comfortable victories while it was Sameer Verma who made heads turn, as he stunned fourth seeded South Korean Son Wan Ho in the opening round here on Wednesday.

Sindhu comfortably beat Arundhati Pantawane 21-17, 21-6, while Saina was equally dominant in overcoming the challenge of Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hsin Lee 21-10, 21-17.

Sameer, who clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at the Syed Modi International, shocked world no. 5 Son Wan Ho 21-17, 21-10 in a 45-minute contest to set up a clash with Hong Kong’s Hu Yun.

Saina will next face the winner of the match between Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong and Hsu Ya Ching of Chinese Taipei.

Sindhu, who takes on the unseeded Saena Kawakami of Japan, said: “It was a good match. It was close in the first game but I took the lead in the second game. I am focused on my next outing, taking one match at a time.”

Sai Praneeth, finalist at the Syed Modi and coming into the tournament after a shoulder injury, won 16-21, 21-12, 21-19 against Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto. He will next play seventh seed Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen.

Meanwhile, 2015 champion Kidambi Srikanth fought back from 1-8 down in the first game to eventually notch up a 21-19, 21-16 win over China’s Zhao Junpeng. He faces Olympic bronze medallist Victor Axelsen next.

Ajay Jayaram gave a good fight before going down 21-23, 17-21 to third seed Axelsen of Denmark.

National champion Rituparna Das produced a top performance to win 19-21, 21-15, 21-19 over Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Mei Hui.

Japan’s Saena Kawakami defeated Rasika Raje 21-10, 21-12, while Reshma Karthik lost 9-21, 8-21 to Zhang Yiman of China.

P.C. Thulasi lost 15-21, 16-21 to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan while Anura Prabhudesai went down to Japan’s Sayaka Sato 21-17, 21-16.

In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy defeated England’s Gabrielle Adcock and Jessica Pugh 21-16, 21-16. They face Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand.

In men’s doubles, Vietnam Open winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag were beaten 14-21, 17-21 by Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

‘Prefer trophies to no. 1 ranking’
Saina said she wasn’t worried about regaining the no. 1 ranking as winning tournaments “gives her more satisfaction”.

“I have already been world number one. It is not what I am thinking about. I only want to win tournaments,” Saina said after her opening round win. “For me, winning tournaments is more satisfying than being world number one.”