India’s Karthikeya Gulshan Kumar upset Danish fifth-seed Mads Christophersen to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals at the Guwahati Masters 2023 badminton tournament on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Karthikeya Gulshan Kumar, ranked 134th in the world, played the best match of his short career to beat Christophersen, placed 82 places above him in the rankings, 21-18, 21-15 in 36 minutes at the Sarusajai Stadium.
The Indian badminton player will face Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei, who defeated Subhankar Dey 21-15, 21-15 in his final eight clash. None of the other Indian shuttlers in action made it to the quarters with national champion Mithun Manjunath, the experienced Sameer Verma and world junior bronze medallist Ayush Shetty bowing out in the round of 16.
The Indian men’s doubles combination of Achutaditya Rao and Venkata Harsha Vardhan also came up 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 Thai 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 in women’s singles.
Unnati 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 also went down in the pre-quarterfinals after putting up a valiant show.
Kashyap saved four match points against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Sih Yun before losing the one hour three minute encounter 21-17, 12-21, 22-20 while Samiya lost 21-15, 18-21, 21-13 against second seed Wen Chi Hsui.
Later in the day, women’s doubles second seeds Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto moved into the quarters with a 21-13, 21-8 win over Unnati Hooda and Palak Arora.
Results at the Guwahati Masters 2023 badminton tournament will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
2023-12-07 17:17:00
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