China Masters: Srikanth stuns World No. 9 Lai to enter QF; Dhruv-Tanisha, Tanvi bow out

Shenzhen: India’s Kidambi Srikanth stunned world No. 9 Canadian Victor Lai to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament on Thursday.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, registered a straight-games win, 21-18, 21-19, over the Canadian, a bronze medallist at the last two BWF World Championships, here at Shenzhen Arena.

Srikanth continued his strong run in China after a confident start to the tournament. He defeated Chinese Taipei’s World No. 21 Chi Yu-jen 21-16, 21-15 in just 35 minutes in the opening round. He will face Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, who beat World No. 9 Toma Popov in the Round of 16.

Earlier, Lai had sent Lakshya Sen through the round of 32 to set up a meeting with Srikanth, who defeated Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in straight games.

This is Srikanth’s second quarter-final of the season, after the former world No. 1 finished runner-up at the US Open in June.

Meanwhile, Tanvi Sharma has been knocked out after losing to Tomoka Miyazaki 17-21, 21-18, 16-21. Tanvi’s loss ended India’s challenge in the women’s singles.

In the mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also suffered a loss at the hands of Liu Kuang Heng and Hsu Yin-Hui of Taipei.

Later in the day, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on the Frenchmen Cristo Popov and Toma Junior Popov.

World No. 5 Indian men’s doubles pair started with a 21-11, 21-16 win over Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Kang Khai Xing in 40 minutes.

On Wednesday, Devika Sihag bowed out of the women’s singles, losing 21-18, 21-15 to Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova.

In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were defeated 21-16, 21-18 by Chinese Taipei’s Wu Guan Xun and Lee Chia Hsin.

IANS

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