CUTTAK, Jan 27: Unseeded Mithun Manjunath stunned seventh seed June Wei Cheam of Malaysia in straight games to storm into the men singles quarterfinals of the Odisha Open here on Thursday.
Manjunath took 40 minutes to outclass Cheam 21-11 21-18. He will next face Priyanshu Rajawat.
Third seeded Indian Subhankar Dey, who had beaten sixth seed Xiaodong Sheng of Canada on Wednesday, also eased into the last-eight with a 21-16 21-14 win over compatriot Rahul Yadav Chittaboina.
Kiran George also moved to the men’s singles quarterfinal with an easy 21-12 21-13 win over compatriot Chirag Sen.
Subhankar will play George in the next round.
Continuing her good run of form, young Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod got the better of compatriot and junior world no 1 Tasnim Mir in straight games to advance to the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Bansod took just over half an hour to dispatch 16-year-old Tasnim 21-13 21-15 in the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the BWF Super 100 tournament.
The 20-year-old Bansod, who had lost to PV Sindhu in the final of the Syed Modi International last week before defeating her idol Saina Nehwal at the India Open earlier this month, will take on the winner of the clash between Tanya Hemanth and Vijetha Harish.
Fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha also booked a quarterfinal spot as she got the better of compatriot Anupama Upadhyay 21-17 21-16. She will take on Rucha Sawant, who defeated Nikki Rapria to reach the final eight.
Chaliha will face Rhucha Sawant in the quarterfinals.
Qualifier Unnati Hooda cruised past eight seed Disha Gupta of USA 21-6 21-9 in just 20 minutes to set up a quarterfinal clash against Samiya Imad Farooqui.
In the mixed doubles event, the India pairing of Dhruv Rawat and Shikha Gautam lost 11-21 14-21 to the Sri Lankan duo of Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa in the second round, while Ayush Makhija and Deeksha Choudhar handed Chirag Arora and Nish Rapria a 21-5 21-16 loss to move to the quarterfinals. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel