Macau Open: Srikanth, Gurusaidutt march into pre-quarterfinals

India’s K Srikanth thrashed South Korea’s Kim Min Ki 21-13, 21-11 to march into the quarterfinals of the Macau Open Badminton Championship here today.

The 19-year-old, who caused the tournament’s first major upset when he showed the exit door to ninth seed and world number 34 Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia in the first round, meant business from the word go, pounding as many as 16 winners to pocket the opening game at 21-13.

The lop-sided opening game loss deflated the 473rd ranked Kim, who struggled to find answers to all the questions thrown by the 108th ranked Indian youngster. In fact, Srikanth demonstrated the yawning gap in their rankings as the South Korean was clearly outplayed at the net as well as in rallies.

Srikanth closed out the second game at 21-11 to bring an end to Kim’s agony on the court.

The win would also give extra joy to the Indian camp as the South Korean had ousted India’s H.S Pranoy 21-18, 10-21, 22-20 in the first round.

There was more good news for India in the men’s section. 12th seed RMV Gurusaidutt – one of the three Indians to be seeded in the tournament (the other two being 6th seed Parupalli Kashyap and 10th Sourabh Varma) – also joined Srikanth in the quarterfinals.

The 52nd ranked Indian thumped 183rd ranked Cheng Po Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 21-14.

Earlier in the opening round, Gurusaidutt staged a splendid fightback losing the opening game against Japan’s 455th ranked Yuki Kaneko before prevailing in three games 17-21, 21-17, 21-19.

In other men’s singles matches, 6th seed Parupalli Kashyap retired hurt during his first round match against USA’s Lee Hock Lai when he was trailing 3-4.

In the women’s singles, India’s 98th ranked Tanvi Lad crashed out, losing to fifth seed and world number 26 Pai Hsiao Ma of Taiwan 11-21, 17-21.

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Edited by Staff Editor