Gulshan Kumar shocks fifth seed to enter quarters

India's Karthikeya Gulshan Kumar produced a thrilling performance to stun fifth seed Mads Christophersen of Denmark to reach the men's singles quarterfinals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament in Guwahati Thursday.

The 23-year-old Karthikeya defeated Christophersen 21-18, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

The opening game was a close affair as the lead changed hands on multiple instances till Karthikeya grabbed five straight points, moving from 12-15 down to 17-15.

Although Christophersen did manage to draw level at 17-17, the Indian shuttler switched to offensive mode to close the game.

In the second game, Karthikeya did not allow his Danish opponent to grab the lead at any stage.

He will face Cheam June Wei of Malaysia, who dominated Subhankar Dey 21-15, 21-15.

Karthikeya said: "His lifts were not going long enough while I could execute my plans perfectly," he told BAI.

The Indian men's doubles pair of Achutaditya Rao and Venkata Harsha Vardhan proved their mettle with a 24-22, 23-21 victory over fourth seeds Wei Chun Wei and Wu Guan Xun of Chinese Taipei.

The duo of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar saved a couple of match points in the second game before seeing off third seeds Pharanyu Kaosamaang and Worrapol Thongsa-Nga of Thailand 16-21, 22-20, 21-16.

In the men's singles, none of the other Indians made it to the quarterfinals.

National champion Mithun Manjunath, Sameer Verma and world junior bronze medallist Ayush Shetty were knocked out in the pre-quarters.

In the women's singles, Unnati Hooda won the opening game against third seed Sung Shou Yun of Chinese Taipei before going down 11-21, 21-15, 21-19.

However, Malvika Bansod advanced to the last-eight stage, beating compatriot Tanya Hemanth 21-13, 21-17.

The fifth seed Aakarshi Kashyap and the talented Samiya Imad Farooqi were also knocked out in the pre-quarters.

In the women's doubles, second-seeded Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the quarterfinals with a convincing 21-13, 21-8 victory over Hooda and Palak Arora.