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India’s K Srikanth kept the Indian flag flying high, upsetting 14th seed Avihingsanon Suppanyu of Thailand in straight games 21-9, 21-19 to storm into the third round of the Yonex Sunrise Malaysian Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship being played in Kuala Lumpur.
Srikanth, who shocked Jan O Jorgensen in the first round of the recent Indian Open, was clinical at the net and robust with his smashes, easily pocketing the opening game 21-9.
The 50th ranked Suppanyu forged a fightback in the second game, pushing Srikanth on the defensive. But the talented 63rd ranked Indian maintained his composure and kept sewing up the crucial points to bag the second game at 21-19 for a third round meeting with third seed Darren Liew of Malaysia.
K Srikanth had earlier put it across Korea’s 84th ranked Sung Min Park in straight games 21-13, 21-11 in the first round.
11th seed RMV Gurusaidutt – the only Indian men’s shuttler to be seeded in the tournament – also joined Srikanth in the third round.
He got the better of Malaysia’s 144th ranked Giap Chin Goh in straight games 21-8, 21-9 for a facile victory.
Earlier, Gurusaidutt defeated Singapore’s 191st ranked Chao Huang of Singapore 21-19, 14-21, 21-17 in the first round.
However, India’s HS Pranoy came a cropper in the second round, going down fighting to local boy Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainduddin 21-15, 14-21, 15-21.
Pranoy, who entered the second round after getting a walkover over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto, did well to win the opening game before capitulating.
Top-seed PVSindhu gave the Indian women’s camp something to cheer about beating Singapore’s 48th ranked Chen Jiayuan 21-13, 19-21, 21-13 to advance to the second round.
Save for Sindhu, Indian women shuttlers had a bad day in office. 103rd ranked Tanvi Lad lost to Japan’s 100th ranked Ito Kana 8-21, 14-21.
93rd ranked PC Thulasi lost to China’s 63rd ranked Yao Xue 18-21, 5-21.
92nd ranked Arundhati Pantawane won the opening game before she lost to Indonesia’s 51st ranked Maria Febe Kusumastuti 21-13, 10-21, 14-21.
Earlier, Abhimanyu Singh and Oscar Bansal, lost in the first round.
It may be worth recalling that the Indian shuttlers had a splendid run in the recently-held Yonex Sunrise Indian Open.
India’s Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles semifinals, where he was outclassed by Japan’s Kenichi Tago. PV Sindhu reached the women’s singles semifinals where she went down to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon.
As many as five Indians reached the men’s singles quarterfinals – besides Anand Pawar, Ajay Jayaram, RMV Gurusaidutt, HS Pranoy and B Sai Praneeth lived up to the home fans’ expectations.
Two Indians made it to the women’s singles quarterfinals – Arundhati Pantawane made the last-eight grade along with Sindhu.
