Auckland, April 17 (IANS): Recently crowned German Open Grand Prix Gold winner Arvind Bhat came out with another fantastic performance to enter the men’s singles semifinal of the $50,000 New Zealand Badminton Open Grand Prix here Thursday.
The fifth seeded Bhat beat Malaysian third seed Chun Seang Tan in 56 minutes to win the quarterfinal clash 22-20, 9-21, 21-18 in their first match at the North Shore Events Centre.
Earlier in the day, the Banglorean beat another Malaysian Tang Jie Chen 21-8, 21-14 in 21 minutes to proceed to the last eight. The Indian has a tough ask ahead as he will take on Chinese Taipei’s top seed Jen Hao Hsu against whom Bhat has a 1-2 career record.
Meanwhile, second seed Sourabh Varma, who hails from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, was upset by Chinese Taipei’s 14th seed Kuei Chun Shih in the third round. Kuei won their first encounter 21-18, 21-15 in 38 minutes.
