Indian shuttler Karthikeya Gulshan Kumar came up with a clinical performance to upset fifth seed Mads Christophersen of Denmark in straight games to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 tournament on Thursday.
The Indian men’s doubles combination of Achutaditya Rao and Venkata Harsha Vardhan then proved their mettle with a 24-22, 23-21 win over fourth seeds Wei Chun Wei and Wu Guan Xun of Chinese Taipei.
Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar then saved two match points in the second game before packing off third seeds Pharanyu Kaosamaang and Worrapol Thongsa-Nga 16-21, 22-20, 21-16
Also advancing to the last eight stage was Malvika Bansod, who got the better of compatriot Tanya Hemanth 21-13, 21-17.
The women’s doubles second seeds Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto also moved into the quarter-finals with a 21-13, 21-8 win over Unnati Hooda and Palak Arora.
Along with her partner Dhruv Kapila, Crasto also made it to the quarter-finals in the mixed doubles category, beating Wu Hsuan Yi/Yang Chu Yun of Chinese Taipei in straight games.
However, none of the other Indians in the men’s singles category made it to the quarter-finals with national champion Mithun Manjunath, Sameer Verma and world junior bronze medallist Ayush Shetty were all knocked out in the round of 16.
Karthikeya impresses
But the performer of the day was undoubtedly Karthikeya.
The 23-year-old clearly had a game plan of not letting his opponent, ranked 82 placed above him, get the opportunity to attack.
The opening game was a close affair with the lead changing numerous times till Karthikeya bagged give straight points to move from 12-15 down to 17-15. Christophersen did manage to draw the scores level at 17-17 but the Delhi-based Indian shuttler then went on the offensive to close the game.
Karthikeya was much more in control in the second game, not letting his Danish opponent have the lead at any stage of the game and wrapped things up 21-18, 21-15 in 36 minutes.
He will now face Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei, who defeated Subhankar Dey 21-15, 21-15 in the other third round clash.
In the women’s singles event, Hooda bagged the opening game against third seed Sung Shou Yun of Chinese Taipei but went down 11-21, 21-15, 21-19.
Fifth seed Aakarshi Kashyap and the talented Samiya Imad Farooqi put up a brave fight before going down in the Round of 16.
Kashyap saved four match points against Taipei’s Lin Sih Yun before losing the 63-minute encounter 21-17, 12-21, 22-20 while Samiya lost 21-15, 18-21, 21-13 against second seed Wen Chi Hsu of Taipei.
The other Indian results included the women’s doubles pair of Rutuparna and Swetaparna Panda beating Gayatri Rani Jaiswal/Sania Sikkandar 21-14, 21-13. In mixed doubles, the duo of Ashit Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh progressed to the quarter-finals against their Thai opponents due to a walkover.
In the men’s doubles category, Kapila and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala won 21-8, 21-17 against Dhurv Rawat/Chirag Sen.
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