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Sridhar, Pawar in NZ Open GP pre-quarters

Anup Sridhar and Anand Pawar were among four Indians who advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Auckland on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Anup Sridhar and Anand Pawar were among four Indians who advanced to the pre-quarterfinals
of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Auckland on Tuesday. Sixth seed Sridhar, who got a first round bye, beat New Zealand`s Joe Wu 21-18, 21-16 in the second round to set up a final-16 clash with Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong. Wong beat Malaysian Zulfadli Zulkifli 21-12, 21-12. Seventh seed Pawar, who also got a bye in first round, defeated James Eunson of New Zealand in the second round and will now take on Indonesian Andreas Adityawarman. Aditya Prakash outlasted Kiwi Kevin Dennerly-Minturn 21-12, 21-18 and then overcame stiff challenges from Yogendran Krishnan before beating the Malaysian 21-16, 17-21, 21-19. Prakash will face Indonesian Yoga Pratama tomorrow. RMV Gurusai Datt brushed aside Kiwi Leck S Tham 21-5, 21-6 and Simon Maunoury of France 21-4, 21-10 in first and second round respectively to reach the pre-quarterfinal. Datt will now face top seed Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong. Among other Indian men, Aditya Elango struggled his way to a win over Kiwi Bjorn Seguin 19-21, 21-16, 21-11 in the first round before going down to eighth seed Mathieu Lo Ying Ping of France 10-21, 8-21 in a 20-minute encounter. Meanwhile, Abhimanyu Singh and Arundhati Pantawane gave walk-overs to Kiwis Thomas Ellis and Sheena Kwan in men`s and women`s singles category respectively. Bureau Report