Karunakaran, Subramanian reach Taipei Open quarterfinal

TAIPEI: India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Sankar Subramanian reached the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Taipei Open badminton tournament but women’s singles players had to deal with disappointment here on Wednesday.

In men’s singles, Karunakaran was made to work hard for a win but he eventually prevailed over Kantaphon Wangcharoen from Thailand 24-22, 23-21 to make the quarterfinals.

Subramanian also had to toil but the Indian shuttler got the better of his Finnish opponent Joakim Oldorff, winning his round of 16 match 21-12, 19-21, 21-11.

In another round of 16 men’s singles contest, Kiran George was in the lead when he won the first set against Indonesia’s Yohanes Saut Marcellyno but the latter fought back to win the contest 15-21, 21-8, 21-16 in his round of 16 contest.

Meanwhile, Indian players had to deal with disappointment in women’s singles as three of them lost in the quarterfinals to crash out of the tournament.

Aakarshi Kashyap was defeated in straight sets 19-21, 18-21 by Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong while the world No 3 Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei brushed aside the challenge from Taniya Hemanth 21-11, 21-10 in a mere 27 minutes.

Anupama Upadhyaya began well when she won the first set against her Lauren Lam, but the American shuttler bounced back to win the next two and the contest 17-21, 21-19, 21-11.

Later on Wednesday, Indian women's doubles' pair of Rituparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda will be in action against Hong Kong's Lok Lok Lui and Hiu Yan Tsang while Rakshitha Ramaraj will take on Japan's Asuka Takahashi in women's singles quarterfinals.