Sathish Kumar, Ayush Shetty advance into second round of Hylo Open 2024

Saarbrucken [Germany], October 31 (ANI): Indian shuttlers Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Ayush Shetty cruised into the second round of the ongoing Hylo Open 2024 tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany on Wednesday.

Seeded seventh at the BWF Super 300 tournament, Sathish Kumar came from behind to defeat fellow compatriot Chirag Sen 20-22, 24-22, 21-17 in one hour and three minutes.

The 23-year-old Sathish Kumar saved a match point in the second game after going down in the first.

The decider was tied at 10-10 but a streak of eight consecutive points put Sathish Kumar on course for the round of 16 against England’s Harry Huang, who defeated the former junior world No. 1 Sankar Subramanian 19-21, 21-11, 21-11.

Ayush Shetty, who won the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships last year, beat Finland’s Joakim Oldorff 21-12, 21-17. The 19-year-old Indian badminton player will take on Italy’s Giovanni Toti in the round of 16.

India’s Tharun Mannepalli could not make it to the next round following a 21-19, 21-19 defeat to Austria’s Collins Valentine Filimon.

In the women’s singles, Keyura Mopati, who made the main round through qualifiers, lost to Denmark’s Anna Siess Ryberg 21-8, 21-12.

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran was also in action later in the day with his mixed doubles partner Aadya Variyath. The fourth-seeded Indian badminton players defeated Scotland’s Adam Pringle and Rachel Andrew with a 21-14, 11-21, 13-21 scoreline.

Malvika Bansod, seeded sixth in the women’s singles, will face Denmark’s Irina Amalie Andersen in the round of 16 on Thursday.

Paris 2024 Olympics semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, the last Indian to win a title at the Hylo Open in 2019, and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, are not competing.