Guwahati Masters: Satwik-Vaishnavi stun top seeds, reach quarters

National Games Champion M Tharun and the unseeded mixed doubles combination of K Sathwik Reddy and Vaishnavi Khadkekar packed off the top seeds in their respective categories to advance to the quarterfinals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament in Guwahati on Thursday.

Gritty Tharun

Tharun saved two game points in the opening game and then grabbed the initiative after a few long exchanges in the decider to beat top seed Priyanshu Rajawat 24-22, 15-21, 21-13 in an hour and 10 minutes in the men’s singles pre-quarters.

On the adjacent court, Reddy and Khadkekar came back from a game down to beat Satish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath 18-21, 21-13, 21-17.

They will now face fifth seed Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto for a place in the semifinals.

This is the second edition of the competition, organised jointly by the Badminton Association of India and Assam Badminton Association with the view of providing much needed exposure to young Indian shuttlers.

Ravi progresses

Men’s singles fifth seed Mads Christophersen of Denmark was also knocked out as India’s Ravi put behind the disappointment of losing a close first game to win the match 21-23, 21-17, 21-14 to set up a quarterfinal clash against Chinese qualifier Zhu Xuan Chen.

In women’s singles, Tasnim Mir had three match points against defending champion Lalinrat Chaiwan but could not convert any of them and lost 21-11, 18-21, 26-24 against the Thai.

And finally, in women’s doubles, defending champions Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto eased into the last eight with a 21-17, 21-17 win over Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh.