Mixed results for Indian shuttlers at the Indonesia Masters
THIRD SEED HS PRANNOY was ousted in the second round, while Gurusaidutt in the third round; Srikanth and PV Sindhu qualified for the quarter-finals at the Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Malang, Indonesia on Thursday.
Hs Prannoy lost 12-21, 22-20, 21-13 against Shi Yuqi of China. It was a hard fought win in the second set for the Indian shuttler but he couldn't last long in the third set against the mighty Chinese who dominated throughout.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth had a tough outing as well, but he survived against Saputra Vicky Angga of Indonesia, beating him 21-14, 17-21, 25-23. When the Indian shuttler lost the second set, doubts crept in if his usual poor performance will continue, but Srikanth had something else in store. He stayed calm throughout the third set and fought till the very end to win 25-23, as the game went on for an hour and five minutes.
He then beat China's Qiao Bin 21-12, 21-15 in 34 minutes. He will next take on Malaysian 15th seed Teck Zhi Soo for a place in the semis.
Eighth seed RMV Gurusaidutt also had a difficult round, which ended in his favour as he beat Kean Yew Loh 21-19, 19-21, 21-15. The Indonesian put him in a very difficult position when he got back in the second set to push the game to the third set. The Indian shuttler was in a hurry to get things done and it was a rather comfortable victory.
But then he went on to lose to Malaysia's 12th seed Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin 14-21, 21-17, 15-21 in 50 minutes. The head-to-head count between the two is now 2-3.
The lone female shuttler in the tournament, PV Sindhu moved to the quarter-finals after an easy win against 16-year-old Wulan Cahya Utami Sukoputri of Indonesia. She only needed 24 minutes to put the Indonesian out of the tournament 21-12, 21-9.
