Hong Kong Open Super 500: Ashwini Ponappa-Tanisha Crasto Enter Pre-Quarterfinals, Lakshya Sen Withdraws

Ashwini and Tanisha defeated Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun 21-19, 21-19 to set up a round of 16 face-off with the top-seeded Japanese duo of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.

The Asian Games-bound Lakshya Sen, however, withdrew from the tournament due to a slight strain in his back.

"He has almost recovered but with the Asian Games around the corner, we didn't want to risk playing today without being 100 per cent. He will be fine in a few days," Lakshya’s coach Anup Sridhar told PTI.

Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a 13-21 14-21 loss to Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama, while Aakarshi Kashyap went down 18-21, 10-21 to German Yvonne Li.

The men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala lost to Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol 14-21, 19-21.

In mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also went down 16-21, 21-16 18-21 to Malaysia's Chen tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, while Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy lost 19-21 10-21 against Singapore's Hee Yong Kai terry and Tan Wei Han Jessica.

Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod defeated China's Zhang Yi Man in straight games 21-14, 21-12 in her women's singles round of 32 match.

Malvika had progressed to the main draw after Pitchamon Opatniputh of Thailand retired due to injury midway through the qualifying round match with the Indian holding a 14-21, 10-11 lead.

(With PTI inputs)