Kidambi Srikanth edges past HS Prannoy in all-Indian first round clash at Swiss Open

NEW DELHI: Indian star badminton player Kidambi Srikanth secured a hard-fought victory over his compatriot HS Prannoy in the men's singles first round of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament on Wednesday.
The match, which lasted 48 minutes, saw Srikanth prevail with scores of 23-21, 23-21 in both games. Srikanth's ability to capitalize on crucial points proved to be the deciding factor, as he now holds a 7-3 head-to-head record against Prannoy in international competitions.
In another men's singles encounter, world No. 64 Shankar Subramanian displayed a dominant performance, defeating Magnus Joahnnsen 21-5, 21-16 in just 38 minutes.
The St Jakobshalle Indoor arena witnessed an all-Indian affair in the women's singles first round, where the unfancied Isharani Barua, ranked 78th in the BWF list, caused an upset by defeating fellow Indian Aakarshi Kashyap.

The 68-minute marathon saw Isharani emerge victorious with a score of 18-21, 21-17, 22-20, securing her place in the second round of the USD 250,000 event.
However, not all Indian players were successful in their opening-round matches. Malvika Bansod fell short against world No. 20 Michelle Li of Canada, losing 22-20, 14-21, 19-21 in the women's singles. Line Christophersen of Denmark also triumphed over Rakshitha Ramraj with a 21-11, 21-17 scoreline.
In the men's singles, world No. 13 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan defeated Ayush Shetty 21-15, 21-19. Additionally, in the mixed doubles event, the Indian pair of Asith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh succumbed to a 10-21, 9-21 loss against Yi Jun Zhu and Chi Zhang of China.