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Four Indians in last 16 of Asian U-19 badminton

July 16, 2009 19:12 IST

India's Eshan Naqvi and P C Thulasi fell by the wayside but four of their compatriots cruised to the singles pre-quarter-finals of the Asian Junior Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In the men's singles, H S Prannoy tamed Korean Lee Sang Min 21-15, 22-20 in just over 30 minutes to move into the pre-quarter-finals while Sumeeth Reddy took exactly 30 minutes to edge out Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 21-19, 21-16.

The lone disappointment in this category was when Naqvi went down to second-seed Le Ha Anh of Vietnam 5-21, 19-21.

Similar fate awaited India in the women's singles, where Sikki Reddy and Saili Rane advanced to the pre-quarters but Thulasi crashed out.

Sikki fought tooth and nail to get past Korean Shin Seung Chan 12-21, 21-13, 21-18 while Saili had a rather easy outing as the Indian beat Nguyen Thi Mai Anh of Vietnam 21-14, 21-13.

In contrast, Thulasi proved no match for Japanese opponent Mitani Minatsu who cruised to a 21-7, 21-8 victory.

Thulasi found some consolation when she partnered Sikki to beat the Vietnam pair of Huynh My Lan and Nguyen Thi Mai Anh 21-8, 21-16 to reach the pre-quarter-finals of the women's doubles.

Two other Indian pairs, Megha Merin Ninan-PV Sindhu and Jackeline Rose Kunnath-Prajakta Sawant, however, crashed out.

In the men's doubles, H S Prannoy and Sumeeth Reddy got the better of Vietnam's Nguyen Khac Tuan and Bui Quang Tuan 21-11, 16-21, 21-12 to reach the pre-quarters.

In the mixed doubles, Pranav Chopra and Prajakta edged out the Korean pair of Choi Seung Il and Yang Soo Youn 19-21, 21-17, 22-20 to reach the pre-quarters.

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