Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty beaten in quarter-finals
Star Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth ousted world No. 7 Jonatan Christie in the men's singles quarter-finals of the Hylo Open Super 300, in Saarbrucken, Germany, on Friday to stay on course for his first title in five years.
The world number 11, who last won a title way back in 2017, dispatched the Indonesian 21-13, 21-19 in 39 minutes to extend his head-to-head count to 6-5.
Srikanth, who won a historic silver at the 2021 World Championships, will take on world No. 6 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Anthony has a 3-2 head-to-head count against the Indian.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand progressed to the semi-finals after a hard-fought win in women's doubles competition.
The world No. 28 Indian pair prevailed over Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching and Lin Wan Ching, ranked 65th, 21-17, 18-21, 21-8 in the quarter-finals to set up a clash with eighth seeds Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand.
Top Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, however, suffered a straight-games loss to the seventh seeded English pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 17-21, 14-21 in a last-eight match.
In the women's singles, Malvika Bansod was no match for Indonesia's world number 21 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, going down 17-21, 10-21 in a lop-sided contest.
Para World Championships: India's para shuttlers ensure 15 medals
Manisha Ramadass and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan reached the semi-finals in the women's singles and doubles events at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships in Tokyo on Friday.
Ramadass and Sivan, both playing their first Worlds, joined former champion Manasi Joshi who too made it to the semi-finals in the women's singles SL3 and mixed doubles SL3-SU5 along with Ruthick Ragupathi.
Ramadass first saw off compatriot Shanthiya Viswanathan 21-8, 21-8 and then paired up with Mandeep Kaur, who exited in her women's singles SL3 event, to beat Joshi and Viswnathan 21-17, 21-15.
On a day when several Indian para shuttlers exited after losing their quarter-final matches, Paralympic champion Krishna Nagar crashed out, going down 21-15, 21-23, 19-21 to England's Krysten Coombs.
Nagar, however, paired with Sivan to overcome Hong Kong's Chu Man Kai and Choi Wing Kei 23-21, 21-18 in mixed doubles. Sivan later teamed up with Rachana Shaileshkumar Patel to beat England's 15-year-old Anya Butterworth and Egypt's Yasmina Eissa 21-10, 21-14.
In the women's singles SH6, Sivan kept her hopes alive, defeating Chinese Taipei's Cai Yi-Lin 21-13, 21-6 to advance as did Parul Parmar after battling Brazil's Adriane Spinetti Avila 21-12, 19-21, 21-15.
Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat led the men's charge, winning his men's singles quarterfinal match over Ukraine's Oleksandr Chyrkov 21-17, 21-19.
Defending champions Bhagat and Manoj Sarkar reached the men's doubles SL3-SL4 semi-finals with a bye.
Sarkar, meanwhile, overcame a second game scare to defeat France's Mathieu Thomas 21-15, 12-21, 9-21 in the men's singles SL3 quarter-finals and booked a clash with compatriot Nitesh Kumar who pulled off an easy win against William Smith 21-8, 21-12.
In men's singles SL4, Sukant Kadam pulled off a spirited 21-10, 21-15 win over Singapore's Chee Hiong Ang. Kadam next faces Fredy Setiawan, the Paralympic bronze medallist from Indonesia.
Among others, Chirag Baretha and Raj Kumar, Hardik Makkar and Ruthick Ragupathi advanced to men's doubles SU5 semi-finals.
Sivarajan Solaimalai fought his heart out before losing 21-19,19-21, 21-19 to England's top player Jack Shephard, while Prem Kumar Ale and Abu Hubaida also exited after fighting for 1 hour 22 minutes against France's Thomas Jakobs and David Toupe 21-18, 11-21, 23-21.
