Anup Sridhar scripted a brilliant come-from-behind 20-22, 21-16, 21-18 victory over world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan to storm into the semi-finals of the men's singles at the Yonex-Sunrise Asian Badminton Championships in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Friday.
World No 35 Sridhar, who reached the semi-finals of the German Open Grand Prix last month, will now play Doha Asian Games champion and world number 14 Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, who shocked top seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei 21-17, 21-17 in another quarter-final tie, for a place in the title round.
Earlier in the day, the Bangalore-based Sridhar needed just 33 minutes to beat Hsieh Yu Hsing of Taipei 21-18, 21-17 in the pre-quarter-finals.
Sridhar is the only Indian left in the tournament as the men's doubles duo of Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal lost their second round match to third seeded Hong Kong pair of Njoto Albertu Susanto and Wiratama Yohan Hadikusumo 16-21, 17-21.
The Indian pair had earlier beaten Duong Bao Duc and Nguyen Hoang Nam 21-16, 21-12 of Vietnam in the first round.
In the women's doubles, B R Meenakshi and Aparna Balan lost to the Chinese pair of Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli 10-21, 15-21 in the second round.
