Gopichand in second round

All England badminton champion Pulella Gopichand moved into the second round in the Denmark Open 2001, being played at Farum Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Denmark Open is prestigious 6-star tournament, which, with prize-money of US $250,000, is the most lucrative World Grand Prix event alongside the Korea Open.

Gopichand, who is seeded seventh in the tournament, defeated Andrew Smith of England 7-2, 7-4, 7-1 in his first round match.

The Indian ace, who is returning to the big league after a two-month injury lay-off, has made little impact since his All England Open victory, way back in March, and is looking to prove his worth at Copenhagen.

In the next round he will face Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands, on Wednesday. Palyama defeated qualifier Martin Kent of Denmark 7-2, 7-3, 8-6 in his first round match

All the other Indian men playing in the tournament lost in the first round itself. Siddharth Jain lost to Danel Eriksson of Sweden 3-7, 4-7, 0-7; Chetan Anand lost to Johan Hadikusuma of Indonesia 4-7, 7-4, 4-7, 6-8, and Abhin Shyam Gupta lost to Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia 3-7, 0-7, 0-7.

In the upset of the day, third seed Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia lost to George Rimarcdi of Sweden 6-8, 7-0, 3-7, 0-7.

Mainaky has been in a good form, winning the Indonesia Open and reaching the final at the World Grand Prix.

All the other seeds won their first round matches.

In the men's qualifiers, Nikhil Kanetkar lost to Gregers Schytt of Denmark 6-8, 7-3, 5-7, 1-7, while D Nagraj gave a walkover to Carsten Gjerlov of Denmark in first round matches.

In the women's sections, Aparna Popat qualified for the main draw defeating Harriet Johnson of England 7-4, 7-0, 7-0 in the final of the qualifying round. Popat had defeated Julie Boe of Denmark 7-2, 7-1, 7-1 in the first round of the qualifier earlier in the day.

Popat will face unseeded Christina Sorensen of Denmark in the first round match on Wednesday.

B R Meenakshi, who got a direct entry, will face Zeng Yaqiong of China in her first round match on Wednesday.

In the mixed doubles event, Gopicand and B R Meenakshi lost to the top seeded Danish pair of Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldeger 1-7, 1-7, 2-7 in a first round match.