SYDNEY: Indian shuttlers, including HS Prannoy, Ayush Shetty and Tharun Mannepalli, notched hard-fought wins in the men’s singles competition to make a positive start at the USD 475,000 Australian Open Super 500 event here on Wednesday.
Prannoy, a runner-up at this event in 2023, recovered from a poor opening game to beat world No. 85 Yohanes Saut Marcellyno 6-21 21-12 21-17 in 57 minutes in the first round match.
The 33-year-old from Kerala, an Asian Games bronze winner and World Championships bronze-medallist in 2023, will take on eighth seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia next.
World No. 32 Ayush, who claimed his maiden Super 300 title at the US Open earlier this year, dismissed Canada’s Sam Yuan 21-11 21-15 in 33 minutes.
The 20-year-old from Karnataka, a bronze-medallist at the 2023 World Junior Championships, will face the winner of the match between fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan and Canada’s Xiadong Sheng.
Mannepalli, a semifinalist at the Macau Open, edged Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen 21-13 17-21 21-19 in a 66-minute battle.The 2023 National Games gold-medallist will meet fifth seed Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei next.
Kiran George put up a spirited fight before losing 21-11 22-24 17-21 to sixth seed Kenta Nishimoto, who had defeated Lakshya Sen en route to the final at the Japan Masters last week.
Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth will play later in the day.