Castellino in main draw

Advancing to the main round were Bahal Mayank, Jolly Prakash, Rohan Castellino, Nigel D’Sa and K Nandagopal.

D’Sa fought back from a game down to pack off Thailand’s Sirivat Matayanumati 17-21, 21-8, 22-20 in 43 minutes.

Son of former doubles specialist Leroy, D’Sa will meet Indonesia’s Riyanto Subagja in the first round on Wednesday.

Behal, Castellino and Nandagopal won in straight games against their opponents from Nepal.

Nandagopal allowed Indra Mahata to claw his way back from 14-20 to 18-20 before clinching the issue 21-13, 21-18 with a smash.

Castellino and Behal ousted Bibek Shreshta and Bishal Pradhan 21-13, 21-8 and 21-13, 21-14 in 20 and 25 minutes respectively.

Jolly brushed aside Bangladesh’s Uddin Md Rais 21-17, 21-8 in half an hour to earn a first-round meeting against another qualifier, Lee Jian Jee of Malaysia, who advanced with a 21-17, 21-6 victory over Bangla rival Mostafa Mohammed Jabed.

The last two places in the main draw were grabbed by Indonesia’s Tene Andre Marteen and Bangladesh’s Enayetullah Khan.

Indonesia’s Yunus Alamsyah and India’s Ajay Jayaram are the top two seeds in the men’s section while Indonesia’s Ratnasari Fransiska is the favourite for the women’s title with India’s Trupti Murgunde seeded fourth.

Meanwhile, the 75th Senior National badminton championship will be held for the first time in Rohtak from January 3.