New Delhi: Second seed Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the India Open badminton tournament after suffering a shock straight games loss even as title-contenders Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals with facile wins, here Thursday.
Playing his first tournament of the new season after recovering from an abdominal muscle strain Srikanth suffered a 19-21, 17-21 loss to Malaysian qualifier Iskandar Zulkarnain, who is giving his career a last shot after coming back from a long injury gap due to back problem.
“I was at par with him in both the games but in the last few points he played really well. I am feeling good and I need more match practice. The loss notwithstanding, I am just happy to be back on court,” Srikanth said after his match.
Women’s top seed and defending champion Sindhu dumped Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri 21-10, 21-14 to set up a clash with eighth-seeded Spaniard Beatriz Corrales, who defeated Ruthvika Shivani Gadde 21-17, 21-10.
“It was an easy match. However, I made a number of unforced errors. I have eradicate it in my next matches,” Sindhu said.
Saina mauled Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-11 in another women’s singles duel and will now face American fifth seed Beiwen Zhang next.
Other Indians who made it to the last eight of the men’s section were B Sai Praneeth who defeated Hong Kong’s Hu Yun 21-10, 21-15, Parupalli Kashyap who overcame compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-19, 19-21, 21-12 and Sameer Verma who dished out an attacking game to see off former World No.3 and 2014 World Championship bronze medallist Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-18, 19-21, 21-17 in an 80-minute encounter.
“I was confident that I will make a comeback after losing the second game which was close. I just want to be fit this year, performance will come if I am fit,” said Sameer who made a return to competitive badminton in this tournament after an injury lay-off for two months.
The unseeded mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also registered a stunning 21-16, 15-21, 23-21 win over third seeded Malaysian combo of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing.
The Indian duo blew four match points before recovering in time to reach their maiden quarterfinals of a major tournament.
“It was crazy. They have reached semis and quarters in Super Series tournaments and we didn’t cross the pre-quarters so far. It was a tricky match and we’re happy to pull it off,” Ashwini said.
The eighth-seeded Indian combo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also entered the mixed doubles quarters after seeing off Malaysian-Indian pair of Yogendran Khrishnan and Prajakta Sawant 21-10, 21-19 in 32 minutes.
Olympic champion Carolina Marin also reached the women’s singles quarters after defeating China’s Gao Fangjie 13-21, 21-15 21-11.
Important results
PV Sindhu Linda Zetchiri 21-10, 21-14
Saina Nehwal bt Line Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-11
B Sai Praneeth bt Hu Yun 21-10, 21-15
Parupalli Kashyap bt Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-19, 19-21, 21-12
Sameer Verma bt Tommy Sugiarto 21-18, 19-21, 21-17
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