Prannoy, Sameer, Subhankar reach second round of Swiss Open

TIL Desk Sports/ Defending champion H S Prannoy along with Sameer Verma and Subhankar Dey advanced to the men’s singles second round of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here. The 24-year-old Prannoy from Kerela disposed Germany’s David Peng 21-15 21-18 in the opening round to set up a clash with Scotland’s Kieran Merrilees next.

13th seed Sameer, who clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at Syed Modi international in January, brushed aside Hungary’s Gergely Krausz 21-10 21-16 and will take on Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama next. Subhankar Dey also staved off the challenge from Germany’s Alexander Roovers 17-21 21-17 21-15 to set up a meeting with Slovakia’s Iztok Utrosa.

However, it was curtains for national champion Sourabh Verma and Lakhanee Sarang.  While Sourabh went down fighting against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-14 21-23 12-21, Lakhanee lost 11-21 5-21 to Kanta of Japan in the opening round.