Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma off to winning starts at Denmark Open

Former champion Kidambi Srikanth and fellow Indian shuttler Sameer Verma made winning starts to their men's singles campaigns at the USD 850,000 Denmark Open Super 1000 tournament here on Tuesday.

Srikanth, who had claimed the title in 2017, outsmarted compatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-14 21-11 in 30 minutes, while Sameer, ranked 28th, prevailed over Thailand's world no 21 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-17 21-14 in a 42-minute clash.

World no 14 Srikanth is expected to meet world no 1 and top-seeded Japanese Kento Momota in the second round, while Sameer will face Denmark's third seed Anders Antonsen in all probability in the next round.

In men's doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21 11-21 to Malaysia's Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in the opening round to bow out of the competition.

Double Olympic medallist and reigning world champion P V Sindhu will begin her campaign later in the day.