Hong Kong, November 12: India's Sourabh Verma entered the men's singles main draw of the Hong Kong Open Super 500 after clinching straight-game wins in his two qualifying clashes in Hong Kong on Tuesday (November 12).
Sourabh, seeded fourth in the qualifiers, first defeated Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-15 21-19 before getting the better of Lucas Claerbout of France 21-19 21-19 in the final qualifying round.
Sourabh will face France's Brice Leverdez in the next match.
The other Indians featuring in the men's singles main event are World no.10 Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, H S Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap.
Srikanth was given a walk over by world no.1 Kento Momota of Japan. So, he moves to the second round and will be in action on Thursday (November 14).
Sourabh's brother, Sameer, meanhwile will be up against Tzu Wei Wanf of Taipei on Wednesday (November 13). B Sai Praneeth also will be in action against third seed Shi Yu Qi of China, while Prannoy and Kashyap will take on China's Huang Yu Xiang and Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
Later on Tuesday, in the mixed doubles event, the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa fought back from a game down to beat Thailand's Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Savitree Amitrapai 16-21, 21-19, 21-17.
Meanwhile, the combination of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand later in the day.
(With PTI inputs)