Srikanth, Prannoy & Unnaticruise into pre-quarterfinals

Lucknow: Top Indian shuttlers K Srikanth and HS Prannoy, along with Kiran George, Tharun Mannepalli and Priyanshu Rajawat, advanced to the men's pre-quarterfinals of the Syed Modi India International HSBC World Tour Super 300 Badminton Championship 2025 at the UP Badminton Academy on Wednesday. In women's singles, top seed Unnati Hooda, Anupama Upadhyaya, Rakshitha Santhosh, Tasnim Mir, and Japan's Nozomi Okuhara began their campaigns with comfortable victories.

Fifth seed Srikanth defeated compatriot Kevin Thangam 21-13, 21-10 and will now face Saneet Dayanand, who eased past Abhinav Thakur 21-10, 21-14. HS Prannoy also had an easy outing, beating Shashwat Dalal 21-15, 21-10.


Meanwhile, last year's semifinalist Priyanshu Rajawat survived an early scare against Meiraba Luwang Maisnam before pulling off a 21-18, 21-14 win. He will next meet BM Rahul Bharadwaj.

In other singles matches, fourth seed Kiran George defeated Israel's Daniil Dubovenko 21-17, 21-9, while sixth seed Tharun Mannepalli outclassed Sathish Kumar Karunakaran 21-7, 21-9. Top seed Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore edged out India's Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar 21-19, 21-17.

In women's singles, top seed Unnati Hooda displayed impressive form, defeating Aakarshi Kashyap 21-13, 21-18. Tasnim Mir edged past Aditi Bhatt 21-15, 11-21, 21-17; Rakshitha Santhosh Ramraj beat Shreya 21-12, 21-14; Tanya Hemanath defeated Taipei's Yi En 21-13, 21-12; and Anupama Upadhyaya overcame her Ugandan opponent 21-8, 21-9. Devika Sihag also registered a win.

Former champion and second seed Nozomi Okuhara, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, defeated India's Adita Rao in a hard-fought 22-20, 21-14 victory. In mixed doubles, India's fifth seeds Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath, as well as the pair of C Lalramsanga and Tarini Suri, also advanced.

Uttar Pradesh's Mansi Singh defeated UAE's Prakriti Bharat 21-15, 21-10 to secure a place in the next round.

In the mixed doubles, UP's Shruti Mishra, partnering Ayush Agrawal, lost to third seeds Wong Tien Ci and Lim Chiew Sien of Malaysia 21-18, 21-14.

In the men's doubles opening round, pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Rutvika Shivani Gadde, Hariharan and Trisha Jolly, F Sanjay Aman and Rutuparna Panda, Mithilesh and Varna, Nitin HV and Srinidhi, Asith Surya and A Prathamesh, and Dhruv Rawat and Manisha K also won their respective matches.

After the match Srikanth said, "In the new BWF point system, once you drop in rankings, it becomes tough to climb back because there are no qualifyings now for Super 50s and Super 1000s, the tournaments that give maximum points. Keeping that in mind, this tournament is really important since it's a Super 300 event."

Asked about his plans for next year, he added, "I definitely have the Asian Games in mind. But it's important to stay in the present and focus on what needs to be done. Right now, I am thinking only about the upcoming matches. I'm not looking too far ahead, though maintaining fitness and momentum will be key going into major events."



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