India shuttlers shine in Vietnam Open

New Delhi: As many as five singles player, including Aditi Mutatkar and Ajay Jayaram, and two doubles pair reached the prequarterfinals as India had a resounding day at the Vietnam Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Ho Chih Minh city on Wednesday.

Unseeded Mutatkar, who has been battling with her form and fitness for quite sometime, produced a stunning game to outclass fourth seed Ai Goto of Japan. Aditi, who is ranked 133rd in the world currently, held her nerves to get across world number 24 Goto 21-18, 14-21, 21-16 in a 45-minute women`s singles match. She will next meet Hsiao Huan Chen of Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarters on Thursday. Young prodigy P V Sindhu also showed her brilliance as she edged past Chinese Taipei`s Shih Han Hung 22-24, 25-23, 21-19 in a battle of attrition which lasted for one hour and seven minutes. Sindhu will face sixth seed Aprilla Yuswandari of Indonesia on Thursday. Arundhati Pantawane, who emerged as a surprise runner-up at the this year`s National Badminton Championship at Rohtak, also notched up a 21-18, 12-21, 21-14 victory over fifth seed Juan Gu of Singapore. The Nagpur girl will take on Jing Yi Tee of Malaysia in the next round. In men`s singles, 12th seed R M V Gurusaidutt sent Soon Huat Goh packing 21-18, 21-11 in a 38-minute match. The Andra Pradesh shuttler will now take on seventh seed Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei in the next round. World championship quarterfinalist Ajay Jayaram, seeded fifth, also reached the prequarterfinals with a 21-14, 21-14 thrashing of local player Ha Anh Le. In another men`s singles encounter, H S Prannoy put up a gallant fight before losing 21-17, 16-21, 12-21 to fourth seed Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia. In women`s doubles event, Aparna Balan and Siki Reddy N beat local pair Huynh Ngoc Uyen Lam and Thi Thanh Thuy Le 21-11, 21-11 in just 22 minutes. In the mixed doubles, fourth seeds Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan saw off Calvin Jia Hong Ong and Chiew Sien Lim 21-8, 21-14 in a 25-minute clash. However, in men`s doubles, the Indian pair of Manu Attri and Jishnu Sanyal crashed out, losing 7-21, 21-17, 17-21 to Low Juan Shen and Jagdish Singh of Malaysia. PTI