Taipei Open: Ayush stuns Srikanth to enter quarter-final

TAIPEI: Young Indian shuttlers Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda continued their impressive run at the Taipei Open Super 300 badminton tournament, advancing to the quarter-final of the men's and women's singles events respectively here on Thursday.

Ayush, 20, a 2023 World Junior Championships bronze medallist, overcame senior pro Kidambi Srikanth 21-16, 15-21, 21-17 in a hard-fought second-round clash.

Srikanth, a former world No 1 and silver medallist at the 2021 World Championships, is currently ranked 82nd in the world.

The rising Indian, who had stunned All England Championships runner-up Lee Chia Hao in the previous round, showed maturity beyond his years to close out the contest. He will next face Canada's seventh seed Brian Yang in the last-eight stage.

Earlier, Unnati, the 2022 Odisha Masters and 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters champion, made short work of Chinese Taipei's Lin Sih Yun, winning 21-12, 21-7 in just 27 minutes.

The 17-year-old Indian will take on local shuttler Hung Yi-Ting in the quarter-final.

However, it was the end of the road for 2023 National Games gold medallist Tharun Mannepalli, who went down 13-21 9-21 to Indonesia's Moh Zaki Ubaidillah in the second round.

Against Srikanth, Ayush held his nerves in a tense opening game, pulling away from 14-15 down with six straight points to take the lead. Srikanth responded with a determined effort in the second game, moving ahead 11-7 at the interval and maintaining the pressure to force a decider.

In the final game, Ayush raced to a 7-3 lead, but Srikanth fought back to level at 13-all and 14-all. The youngster, however, showed composure in the closing stages to seal the match and underline his growing stature on the senior circuit.