Tokyo: The Indian men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy stunned Olympic silver medallists Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia to enter the quarterfinals of the USD 700,000 Japan Open badminton tournament here Wednesday. It was the best ever career win for the Indian doubles duo.
National champions Manu and Sumeeth, who had earlier defeated the Malaysian pair at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold tournament in 2015, saved a match point in the second game and came back from a 17-19 deficit to upset Shem and Wee 15-21 23-21, 21-19 in a 54-minute thrilling battle.
“I feel we are playing well now. In today’s match we played really well in the second and third game especially at the ending. We were calm and we knew what to be done,” Manu told this agency. “This win will definitely boost our confidence for future matches.” The Indian pair will next face China’s He Jiting and Tan Qiang.
“At the Asian games we narrowly missed a medal, I think it was our bad luck as we were leading 20-18 in the third game but couldn’t convert it into a win, but that was a good lesson for both of us,” Manu added.
However, the other doubles pairs fared disastrously. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles and Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy in women’s segment bowed out of the tournament after losing their respective matches.
CWG silver medallists Satwik and Chirag went down 12-21, 17-21 to third seeded Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda, while Ashwini and Sikki lost 17-21, 13-21 to the Korean combination of Chang Ye Na and Jung Kyung Eun in women’s doubles.
At a glance
Manu Attri & B Sumeeth Reddy bt Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong 15-21 23-21, 21-19
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty lost to Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda 12-21, 17-21
Ashwini Ponnappa & N Sikki Reddy lost to Chang Ye Na & Jung Kyung Eun 17-21, 13-21