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The talented young Indian brigade keeps on flying the Indian tricolour high at the $65,000 Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open 2017 with Lakshya Sen, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and the men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran entering the quarter-finals of this Grand Prix tournament held in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Thursday.
Gadde, whose ranking has dropped to 103 now following a hiatus, needed just 30 minutes to dismiss the challenge of the 99th ranked Wan Yi Tang of Chinese Taipei, 21-15, 21-12.
She has a tough task up next as she will be up against the third seed Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia. The latter, ranked 43rd, dashed the hopes of an all-Indian quarter-final by edging the Indian qualifier Pardeshi Shreyanshi, 21-6, 16-21, 23-21 in a 55-minute battle.
The third Indian in the women’s singles draw - Vrushali Gummadi - also bowed out in the second round. The 19-year-old fought hard and snatched a game only to fall in the end, 8-21, 21-12, 10-21 to the sixth seeded Chinese Taipei ace, Chen Su Yu.
Sen to face fellow 16-year-old next
In men’s singles, 16-year-old Lakshya Sen continues to sizzle. The Uttarakhand boy climbed to his career-best ranking of 137th in the new rankings released on September 7, 2017 and celebrated it by booking a quarter-final berth at the Vietnam Open.
He took 32 minutes to get the better of the 604th ranked Thanh Long Truong of Vietnam, 21-14, 21-12 to set up a last-eight showdown with Kodai Naraoka. The 16-year-old Japanese, ranked 191st, accounted for the top seed Hsu Jen Hao, 21-17, 17-21, 21-15 in the third round.
Sen has come into this tournament with a lot of confidence having won the Bulgarian Open International Series in August and will look to get past his fellow teenager for a place in the semi-finals.
In men’s doubles, fifth seeds Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran made a great comeback even after squandering the first game against the Malaysian pair of Low Hang Yee and Tan Jinn Hwa, 14-21 21-12 21-12.
Up next for the Indians is the Thai combine of Tinn Isriyanet and Kittisak Namdash, who stunned the top seeded Malaysians Chooi Kah Ming and Low Juan Shen, 21-16, 20-22, 21-15.
