Praneeth and Ashwini-Sikki advance

Sai Praneeth and the women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Praneeth got the better of Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-13, 21-13 in a 44-minute contest.

Ashwini and Sikki took only 25 minutes to ease past Germany’s Johanna Goliszewski and Lara Kaepplein 21-15, 21-12.

In men’s singles category, reigning World champion Viktor Axelsen was the sole survivor among the top players after China’s Lin Dan and Chen Long, South Korea’s Son Wan-Ho and Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei were eliminated in the first round.