Calgary (Canada), July 1: Indian shuttlers continued their good run at the Canada Open badminton tournament with six singles players, including Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy, reaching the quarterfinals of the USD 55,000 Grand Prix event here Thursday.
Top seed Ajay Jayaram brushed aside Austria’s David Obernosterer 21-10, 21-12 to set up a clash with fellow Indian Harsheel Dani, who defeated another India shuttler Pratul Joshi 21-9, 21-18 in a men’s singles match.
Jayaram played some good badminton in his tie against the tall Obernosterer. He controlled the shuttle well making the Austrian run a lot on the court. It led to a large number of unforced errors by Obernosterer and from 7-all in the first game, he seemed to have surrendered to his destiny.
In another pre-quarterfinal tie, second seed HS Prannoy recovered from a second game slump to eke out a hard-fought 21-18, 18-21, 21-12 win over Canada’s BR Sankeerth who is of Indian origin. He will face seventh seed Brice Leverdez of France next.
Fourth seed B Sai Praneeth, too, reached the last eight stage after beating Canada’s Wenchao Shi 21-19, 21-12. He will meet eighth seed Raul Must of Estonia, who ended the campaign of RMV Gurusaidutt, beating the Indian 21-12, 7-21, 21-17 in another match.
In women’s singles, Ruthvika Gadde edged past Austria’s Elisabeth Baldauf 24-22, 21-18 to set up a fight with fourth seeded Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria. Her compatriot Tanvi Lad saw off USA’s Maya Chen 21-14, 21-15 to set up a meeting with another American Iris Wang, seeded third.
Rio-bound women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on Australia’s Leanne Choo and Rachel Honderich of Canada in the quarterfinals after the top seeds were given a bye in the first round.
Top seeded men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on Canada’s Ted Chin Tai Chen and Chinese Taipei’s Liao Chao Hsiang. The Indian duo defeated the local combo of Timothy Chiu and Jason Ho-Shue 21-8, 21-10 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Mixed doubles pair of Manu Attri and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated the Canadian combo of Jonathan Lai and Michelle Tong 21-14, 21-12 and will square up against fourth seeds Nico Ruponen and Amanda Hogstrom of Sweden. PTI
