Bhat in pre-quarterfinals of Australian Open badminton

Melbourne: National champion Arvind Bhat reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Australian Open badminton tournament after beating Iranian Kaveh Mehrabi in the second round here on Wednesday.

Arvind was the lone survivor from India in men`s singles as his colleagues RMV Gurusai Datt, Aditya Elango and Eshan Naqvi lost their respective matches. Arvind defeated Mehrabi 21-14, 21-16, but the other Indians in the fray had a disappointing day. Datt lost to China`s Yi Lu 11-21, 18-21, Elango was shown the door by Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 12-21, 5-21, while Naqvi was knocked out by Hong Kong`s Yan Kit Chan 7-21, 8-21. Arvind had defeated USA`s Nicholas Jinadasa 21-19 21-5 in the first round. PTI