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The Indian contingent started off their campaign with mixed fortunes at the $600, 000 Victor Korea Open Superseries in Seoul, Korea on Tuesday. In the qualifying rounds, there was good news as Parupalli Kashyap and the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy both won their respective matches to secure main draw berths. But curtains came on the challenge of the India No. 1 mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who bowed out with a 21-13, 19-21, 15-21 defeat to the fourth seeded Indonesian pair of Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto in 48 minutes.
Kashyap in sizzling form
The 46th ranked Kashyap, meanwhile, was in impeccable form as he dismissed the 44th ranked Chinese Taipei shuttler Lin Yu Hsien 21-19, 21-9 in just 35 minutes. Even though the final round of qualifying proved to be a tougher task, Kashyap did not concede a game and emerged a 21-19, 21-18 winner over the lower-ranked Taipei player Kan Chao Yu.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion has another Chinese Taipei shuttler in the first round of the main draw - the World No. 28 Hsu Jen Hao. Kashyap is on the comeback after a shoulder injury derailed him for three months of the year.
He is trying to build on his recent good run at the US Open and the New Zealand Open where he made it to the final and the pre-quarter-finals respectively.
Good performance by Ponnappa and Rankireddy
In mixed doubles, Ponnappa and Rankireddy have opted to play together continuously from this tournament. They easily prevailed over the German combine of Peter Kaesbauer and Olga Konon, 21-12, 21-15 in the first round.
In the final round, they faced some stiff resistance from the Indonesian duo of Ronald Ronald and Annisa Saufika before beating them, 27-25, 21-17.
In the first round of the main draw, they will be up against the Hong Kong team of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy were unfortunate that they faced the very same pair who ousted them from the World Championships in Glasgow less than a month back. There too they lost in three gruelling games in their second round encounter.
