Tharun, Ravi storm into Guwahati Masters quarters

GUWAHATI, Dec 5: M Tharun and Ravi toppled higher-seeded opponents to storm into the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament here on Thursday.
Tharun, the runner-up at the Senior National Championships, showcased nerves of steel, saving two game points in the opening game before overcoming top seed Priyanshu Rajawat 24-22, 15-21, 21-13 in a gruelling one-hour and 10-minute battle.
Ravi displayed remarkable grit to defeat Denmark’s fifth seed Mads Christophersen 21-23, 21-17, 21-14, setting up a last-eight clash against Chinese qualifier Zhu Xuan Chen.
Sathish Kumar Karunakaran also secured his place in the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 21-19, 9-21, 21-7 win over Malaysia’s Sholeh Aidil.
Meanwhile, fourth seed Ayush Shetty, the 2023 World Junior Championships bronze medallist, prevailed in a marathon encounter, edging compatriot S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian 19-21, 22-20, 23-21.
In mixed doubles, the unseeded duo of K Sathwik Reddy and Vaishnavi Khadkekar stunned top seeds Satish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath 18-21, 21-13, 21-17.
They will next face fifth seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, who came from behind to beat Ayush Agarwal and Shruti Mishra 15-21, 21-10, 21-11.
In women’s singles, Tasnim Mir came agonizingly close to a major win, holding three match points against defending champion Lalinrat Chaiwan but fell short in a heartbreaking 21-11, 18-21, 26-24 defeat to the Thai shuttler.
Anmol Kharb and Tanvi Sharma advanced with straight-game victories.Anmol eased past compatriot Tara Shah 21-9, 21-15, while Tanvi defeated Yi En Hsieh of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-8.Top seeds Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, the defending champions, continued their title defence with a 21-17, 21-17 win over compatriots Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh. (PTI)