India Open Super Series: Jwala-Ashwini follow Saina and Co.

India on Thurday at the Siri Fort indoor complex found two new heroes in the name of Gurusai Datt and Saurabh Verma. Defeating higher rank opponents, they both have qualified for the quarter finals of the Men’s Single event in the Yonex Sunrise India Open Super Series. They are the only two Indians left in the competition, carrying the hope of millions after Jwala-Aswini followed Saina.

After a disappointing Wednesday which saw large number of Indian badminton players losing their first round matches including the No. 1 seed Saina Nehwal, the Indian contingent once again failed on Thursday. Even the Women’s double pair of Jwala and Ashwini on whom the whole nation was banking went down along with 6 other Indian Badminton players.

However the Indian Men’s single today showed their grit and determination, winning matches against some higher opponents. Saurabh Verma and Gurusai Datt won their respective matches to proceed into the Quarter Final of the event while P.Kashyap went down fighting against World No. 3 Taufik Hidayat.

Leading the Indian winning contingent today was Saurabh Verma who defeated the tournament’s 7^th seed Kenichi Tago 21-19, 18-21, 21-11 in a hard fought battle. Reaching the Quarter Finals, making his way up from the qualifications round, Saurabh in the process defeated qualification round No. 1 seed Chun Seang Tan followed by fellow compatriot Nigel Dsa. In the first round on Wednesday, the 20 year old defeated the World No. 37 in straight sets. Saurabh will be up against World No.1 Chong Wei Lee who defeated Hyun Il Lee today.

Gurusai Datt, another Indian player who also played up through the qualifying round had a tough match today and eventually manages a win in the third set against Yuhan Tan of Belgium with a score of 21-13 14-21 21-13. Gurusai yesterday defeated the No.4 seed B.Ponsana and is having a good chance to make his way even to the Semi Final as he will be up against the 8^th seed Yun Hu of Hongkong.

P.Kashyap was up against the formidable world No. 3, Taufik Hidayat. Kashyap however went down fighting to the Indonesian 21-17 21-19. The mix double pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre were the first to go down today morning to the 5^th seed Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia. The Malaysian duo faced a tough fight from the unseeded Indians and finally managed to wrap up the match in the 48 minute with a score of 21-18 22-24 21-12.

The disappointment grew in the second session when the Women’s Double pair Jwala-Ashwini went down to the former world No. 1 Malaysian pair Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong 22-20 21-18. This was the fourth time the Indian pair faced them and unfortunately on all the four occasions they landed up on the wrong side of the result. With this lost, only Sourav Verma and Gurusai Datt remains in the competition. The less known women pair of India Pradnya Gadre and Jyotshna Polavarapu also went down fighting to the No. 1 seed Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna 21-8 21-16.

The other Indian players who went down today are Pranav Chopra-Prajakta Sawant in mix doubles. They lost to the Indonesians pair of Muhammad Rijal and Debby Susanto 21-11 19-21 21-13. In men’s Double Attri Manu and Jishnu Sanyal lost to another Malaysian pairs Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan 21-9 21-14 while the seeded pair Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas lost to Indonesia’s Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto and Afiat Yuris Wirawan in a straight set with the scoreline reading 21-19 21-12.