<div align="justify">Olympic medallists P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal made a resounding start to their women's singles campaign but it was Sameer Verma who hogged the limelight with a stunning straight-game win over Korean Son Wan Ho in men's event in the opening round of India Super Series here today.<br /><br />Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu streamrolled compatriot Arundhati Pantawane 21-17 21-6, while London Games bronze medallist Saina defeated Chinese Taipei's Chia Hsin Lee 21-10 21-17 in a lop-sided contest.<br /><br />"I gifted her seven points, I was a bit anxious to finish the match. The score should have been 21-10 21-10. She is a tricky player. She also plays doubles, so some of her strokes were difficult to gauge. I am happy with my movement," said World No. 8 Saina, who will face Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong next.<br /><br />World No. 5 Sindhu, who will next take on unseeded Saena Kawakami of Japan, said: "It was a good match. It was close in the first game but I took a lead in the second early on. I am focused on the next game, taking one match at a time."<br /><br />Sameer, who had clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at Syed Modi International, shocked fourth seeded Korean Son Wan Ho 21-17 21-10 in a 45-minute contest to set up a clash with Hong Kong's Hu Yun in the next round.<br /><br />"Son was injured in All England. I was prepared and also saw a few videos. I played a lot of cross-court shots, he was finding it difficult to bend to retrieve the shots. His cross court is also strong. It is a good win but it is just first round so I need to capitalize on it. I need to be consistent," Sameer said.<br />It was a delightful day for the Verma brothers as Sameer's elder brother Sourabh also reached the second round with a 21-13 21-16 win over compatriot H S Prannoy, who had his right knee tapped due to a freak injury at Swiss Open.<br /><br />Sai Praneeth, finalist at Lucknow and who recently recovered from a shoulder injury, staved off a challenge from Japan's Kenta Nishimoto to win 16-21 21-12 21-19. He will play seventh seed Chou Tien Chen next.<br /><br />Meanwhile, 2015 champion Kidambi Srikanth fought back from 1-8 down in the first game to eventually notch up a 21-19 21-16 win over China's Zhao Junpeng. He will face Olympic bronze medallist Victor Axelsen next. Ajay Jayaram gave a good fight before going down 21-23 17-21 to third seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.<br /><br />National champion Rituparna Das also produced a scintillating performance to eke out a 19-21 21-15 21-19 win over Chinese Taipei's Chiang Mei Hui. <br /><br />In women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated the England pair of Gabrielle Adcock and Jessica Pugh 21-16 21-16. The Indian duo will face fourth seeded Thai pair of Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai next.<br /><br />Seventh seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki defeated Indonesian combo of Hafiz Faizal and Shela Devi Aulia 21-15 21-19.<br /><br />Saena Kawakami of Japan ended Rasika Raje's campaign beating her 21-10 21-12, while Reshma Karthik lost 9-21 8-21 to Zhang Yiman of China and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli lost 11-21 13-21 to second seeded Sung Ji Hyun of Korea. Pardeshi Shreyanshi suffered a 14-21 18-21 defeat to Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria.<br /><br />Tanvi Lad retired midway at 6-2 due to an injury, while P C Thulasi suffered a 15-21 16-21 loss to seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan while Anura Prabhudesai lost to Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-17 21-16.<br /><br />In men's doubles, it turned out to be a disappointing day as Vietnam Open winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 14-21 17-21 to Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.<br /><br />Among other Indians in fray, women's pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant, and Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram, Juhi Dewangan and Saumya Singh, Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Block Hazarika, Gauri Asaji and Megha Morchana Bora, Sruthi K P and Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan, Mahima Aggarwal and Maneesha K also crashed out in first round.<br /><br />Also crashed out were Arjun M R and Ramchandran Shlok, men's pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, Jishnu Sanyal and Shivam Sharma, Sourabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh, Ketan Chahal and Tanveer Gill, M Anilkumar Raju and Venkat Gaurav Prasad.</div>
<div align="justify">Olympic medallists P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal made a resounding start to their women's singles campaign but it was Sameer Verma who hogged the limelight with a stunning straight-game win over Korean Son Wan Ho in men's event in the opening round of India Super Series here today.<br /><br />Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu streamrolled compatriot Arundhati Pantawane 21-17 21-6, while London Games bronze medallist Saina defeated Chinese Taipei's Chia Hsin Lee 21-10 21-17 in a lop-sided contest.<br /><br />"I gifted her seven points, I was a bit anxious to finish the match. The score should have been 21-10 21-10. She is a tricky player. She also plays doubles, so some of her strokes were difficult to gauge. I am happy with my movement," said World No. 8 Saina, who will face Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong next.<br /><br />World No. 5 Sindhu, who will next take on unseeded Saena Kawakami of Japan, said: "It was a good match. It was close in the first game but I took a lead in the second early on. I am focused on the next game, taking one match at a time."<br /><br />Sameer, who had clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at Syed Modi International, shocked fourth seeded Korean Son Wan Ho 21-17 21-10 in a 45-minute contest to set up a clash with Hong Kong's Hu Yun in the next round.<br /><br />"Son was injured in All England. I was prepared and also saw a few videos. I played a lot of cross-court shots, he was finding it difficult to bend to retrieve the shots. His cross court is also strong. It is a good win but it is just first round so I need to capitalize on it. I need to be consistent," Sameer said.<br />It was a delightful day for the Verma brothers as Sameer's elder brother Sourabh also reached the second round with a 21-13 21-16 win over compatriot H S Prannoy, who had his right knee tapped due to a freak injury at Swiss Open.<br /><br />Sai Praneeth, finalist at Lucknow and who recently recovered from a shoulder injury, staved off a challenge from Japan's Kenta Nishimoto to win 16-21 21-12 21-19. He will play seventh seed Chou Tien Chen next.<br /><br />Meanwhile, 2015 champion Kidambi Srikanth fought back from 1-8 down in the first game to eventually notch up a 21-19 21-16 win over China's Zhao Junpeng. He will face Olympic bronze medallist Victor Axelsen next. Ajay Jayaram gave a good fight before going down 21-23 17-21 to third seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.<br /><br />National champion Rituparna Das also produced a scintillating performance to eke out a 19-21 21-15 21-19 win over Chinese Taipei's Chiang Mei Hui. <br /><br />In women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated the England pair of Gabrielle Adcock and Jessica Pugh 21-16 21-16. The Indian duo will face fourth seeded Thai pair of Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai next.<br /><br />Seventh seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki defeated Indonesian combo of Hafiz Faizal and Shela Devi Aulia 21-15 21-19.<br /><br />Saena Kawakami of Japan ended Rasika Raje's campaign beating her 21-10 21-12, while Reshma Karthik lost 9-21 8-21 to Zhang Yiman of China and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli lost 11-21 13-21 to second seeded Sung Ji Hyun of Korea. Pardeshi Shreyanshi suffered a 14-21 18-21 defeat to Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria.<br /><br />Tanvi Lad retired midway at 6-2 due to an injury, while P C Thulasi suffered a 15-21 16-21 loss to seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan while Anura Prabhudesai lost to Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-17 21-16.<br /><br />In men's doubles, it turned out to be a disappointing day as Vietnam Open winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 14-21 17-21 to Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.<br /><br />Among other Indians in fray, women's pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant, and Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram, Juhi Dewangan and Saumya Singh, Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Block Hazarika, Gauri Asaji and Megha Morchana Bora, Sruthi K P and Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan, Mahima Aggarwal and Maneesha K also crashed out in first round.<br /><br />Also crashed out were Arjun M R and Ramchandran Shlok, men's pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, Jishnu Sanyal and Shivam Sharma, Sourabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh, Ketan Chahal and Tanveer Gill, M Anilkumar Raju and Venkat Gaurav Prasad.</div>