Sandhu, Mangaonkar progress in Hong Kong Open qualifying

Mahesh Mangaonkar in action at the Hong Kong Open on Sunday (image courtesy: Hong Kong Open)

India No. 2 Mahesh Mangaonkar and former Indian national champion Harinderpal Sandhu put up impressive displays to book their places in the final round of qualifying at the $150,000 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open 2015 on Sunday. But it was the end of the road for the third Indian in action – Janet Vidhi – who crashed out in straight games.

World No. 57 Mahesh Mangaonkar rebounded from his shock defeat at the World Championship qualifying by registering a thunderous 11-3, 11-3, 11-2 victory over 17-year-old Matthew Lai of Hong Kong. The match duration was just 17 minutes.

He next faces the 64th ranked Yip Tsz Fung of Hong Kong for a place in the main draw.

Mangaonkar was pleased with his performance and sounded upbeat about his chances in the final round of qualifying.

“I often struggle in my first match, so that was good, I think I’m ready for tomorrow now”, said the 21-year-old.

It was an equally sublime performance from his compatriot Harinderpal Sandhu at this World Series event. The world No. 71 beat the 227th ranked David Clegg of Australia 11-3, 11-2, 11-6 in 24 minutes.

Sandhu, who had been training with former World No. 1 David Palmer, is coming to this tournament fresh from playing at the World Championship where he won two rounds of qualifying to secure a main draw berth.

Sandhu has a tougher challenge in the final round of qualifying as he faces World No. 29 Zahed Mohamed of Egypt.

Promising 20-year-old Janet Vidhi, however, could not do much against a higher-ranked opponent and exited in the first round of women’s qualifying. The World No. 182 went down 3-11, 0-11, 5-11 to the 49th ranked Christine Nunn of Australia in 17 minutes.

All final round of qualifying matches are scheduled on Monday.