Mixed day for Indian shuttlers

Shuttler Arvind Bhat advanced to the second round of men's singles event while mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta won their opening match on a mixed day for Indians at the Yonex Korea Super Series in Seoul on Wednesday.

Bhat got the better of compatriot Chetan Anand 21-12, 21-13 in 24 minutes in the first round when many of his compatriots bite the dust.

P Kashyap went down to Poland's seventh-seed Wacha Przemyslaw 11-21, 17-21. Bhat will next meet Przemyslaw in the second round.

NG Wei of Hong Kong dashed the hopes of comeback man Anup Sridhar. The Indian shuttler, who is back in the circuit after recovering from injury, won the first game 23-21 but lost the second 17-21.

He fought gamely in the decider but ultimately conceded the game 22-24 and the match in just over an hour.

Anand Pawar went down to Malaysia's Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif 14-21, 15-21 in another first round encounter.

Diju and Gutta defeated the Korean pairing of Yeon Seong Yoo and Min Jung Kim 21-19, 14-21, 21-19 in the mixed doubles first round and will face top-seed Indonesian duo Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir next.

In the women's singles first round, Aditi Mutatkar went down to Malaysia's Julia Pei Xian Wong 9-21, 15-21.

All hopes now rest on Sania Nehwal, who got a walkover in the opening round and will take on Adrianti Firdasari in the next stage.