Siddharth stuns sixth seed Sheng in Odisha Open

Unheralded Indian shuttler Siddharth Pratap Singh stunned sixth seed Xiaodong Sheng of Canada in straight games while third seed Subhankar Dey eased past compatriot Jagadeesh Kalaga to enter the third round of the men singles competition at the Odisha Open in Cuttack on Wednesday.

Siddharth took just 27 minutes to shock Sheng 21-17, 21-4 in a lop-sided second round match, while Subhankar defeated Kalaga 21-18, 21-10.

Chirag Sen also progressed to the men's singles third round with a 21-14, 21-19 win over Ravi.

Siddharth will next play Ansal Yadav.

In the women's singles, fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha scored a fighting 21-12, 12-21, 21-17 win over compatriot Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka to progress to the second round, where she will be up against Anupama Upadhyaya in the BWF Tour Super 100 tournament.

Tasnim Mir, who earlier this month became the first Indian to claim world number one status in the U-19 category, beat Keyura Mopati 13-21, 21-14, 21-19 to set up a second round clash against Malvika Bansod.

In the women's doubles, fifth seeded India pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who won the India Open last week, beat Manidipa Dey and Uthsava Palit 21-3, 21-6 to enter the women's doubles quarter-final.

Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of India on Wednesday clarified that the COVID-19 tests conducted at the Odisha Open are being done according to the protocols set by the Badminton World Federation through a designated lab and there was no reason to question the authenticity of the reports.

BAI came out with the clarification after some players claimed that tests conducted by private labs in the Odisha Open were coming out negative while ICMR testing are turning out positives.

BAI rubbished the claims, saying the lab which is conducting the tests for participants in the Odisha Open is an ICMR Lab run directly by the Government of India and boasts of the highest level of precision in its protocols.

"This is the third and last tournament of the India leg and as per BWF protocol, the host country designated the lab and in this case ICMR lab was appointed which is the country's best.

"As per protocol, BWF upholds the findings of this lab only. Similar process was followed at the India Open and Syed Modi International and no exception was made at the Odisha Open as well," BAI Secretary Ajay K Singhania said in a statement.