Gwangju (Korea), Nov 20 (PTI) India made a promising start at the Korea Open with shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma advancing to the second round of the men's singles competition here on Wednesday.

The sixth seed Srikanth defeated Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-18 21-17 in match that lasted 37 minutes.

The former world no.1 Srikanth now enjoys a dominant 11-3 head-to-head record over the Hong Kong shuttler. He will face Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the second round.

Sameer Verma also reached the second round after his opponent Japan's Kazumasa Sakai retired midway with the score reading 11-8 in favour of the Indian.

However, it was end of the road for Sourabh Verma, who went down after winning the first game to local favourite Kim Donghun 21-13 12-21 13-21.

Sameer will take on Donghun in the second round.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)