Badminton: Indian trio make Dutch Open quarters

Indian shuttlers Chetan Anand, Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar notched up straight-game wins to reach the quarter-finals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament at Almere, the Netherlands on Thursday.

Second seed Chetan defeated ninth seed Raul Must of Spain 21-13, 21-12 in a 34-minute clash in the men's singles pre-quarters to inch closer to regaining his title he won last year.

Fourteenth seed Pawar also saw off Japanese Shuhei Hayasaki 21-17, 21-16 in a 32-minute match, while Jayaram beat 13th seed Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania 21-18, 21-15 to keep his hopes of a back-to-back title alive.

Jayaram had defeated top seed Marc Zwiebler 21-19, 21-17 in the second round after beating Manuel Batista 21-9, 21-12 in the first round on Wednesday.

Pawar beat Yuhan Tan 19-21, 21-15, 21-16 in the first round, before brushing off Indonesian Indra Bagus Ade Candra 21-12, 21-12 in the next stage.

Chetan, who got a walk over in the first round, survived some anxious moments before getting past Rune Massing 16-21, 21-16, 21-8 in the second round.