Sourabh Varma advances to pre-quarters of Malaysian Grand Prix Gold
Eighth seed Sourabh Varma defeated compatriot Chetan Anand 21-14, 21-17 to set up a clash with ninth seed Kazumasa Sakai of Japan in the next round.
Four Indian shuttlers, including Sourabh Varma, advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles competition in the USD 120,000 Malaysian Grand Prix Gold at Pasir Gudang here on Thursday.
Eighth seed Sourabh, who has clinched three titles - TATA Open, Austrian International Challenge and Iran Fajr International Challenge recently - defeated compatriot Chetan Anand 21-14 21-17 to set up a clash with ninth seed Kazumasa Sakai of Japan in the next round. Sakai beat another Indian Anup Sridhar 21-13 21-11 in another match.
Sai Praneeth B, H S Prannoy and RMV GuruSaidutt also reached the pre-quarterfinals but it was curtains for Aditya Prakash in the men's singles competition.
Praneeth, seeded 12th, toiled hard before prevailing over Malaysia's Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub 16-21 21-7 21-4, while seventh seed Prannoy beat Japan's Riichi Takeshita 21-17 25-23 and sixth seed Gurusaidutt got across Malaysia's Seng Zoe Yeoh 21-17 21-13.
However, young Aditya lost 17-21 10-21 to 15th seed Simon Santoso from Indonesia in another second round match.
In the mixed doubles, eighth seeded Indian pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Siki Reddy N defeated Malaysian combo of Chee Tean Tan and Shevon Jemie Lai 21-16 21-14.
Sixth seeded Indian pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan, however, couldn't cross the hurdle, losing 19-21 7-21 to Malaysian combo of Fai Yin Wong and Mei Kuan Chow.
Another local pair of Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid and Fie Cho Soong ended the run of Vountus Indra Mawan and Prajakta Sawant with a 21-14 21-13 win in a mixed doubles clash.
Prajakta and her partner Arathi Sara Sunil also lost in the women's doubles competition after the Indian pair retired midway against Chinese combo of Dongni Ou and Mengjing Xiong while lagging 2-21 5-13.