Srikanth, Lakshya keep India’s hopes alive at Kumamoto Masters

Kumamoto (Japan): Veteran shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen progressed to the men’s singles quarterfinals with contrasting wins at the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament on Thursday.

Former World No. 1 Srikanth, a 2021 World Championships silver medallist, stunned fifth seed and world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 to set up a clash with another Japanese shuttler, world No. 15 Koki Watanabe.

It was Srikanth’s first win in five meetings against the two-time World Championships silver medallist.

Placed in the other half of the draw, eighth seed Lakshya, who won the Hylo Open in Germany, defeated China’s Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14 to reach the last eight. He will face Japan’s Yushi Tanaka next at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.

World No. 13 Lakshya is currently 10th in the BWF World Tour rankings and needs to break into the top eight to qualify for the season-ending tournament in China.

The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who won a maiden bronze at the World Championships in New Delhi, lost 21-14, 21-14 to third seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan in the round of 16.

Srikanth vs Naraoka

The world No. 31 Indian combined solid defence with attacking flair to outplay Naraoka, widely regarded as one of the most tenacious retrievers in world badminton.

Srikanth gained the upper hand in a closely fought opening game after Naraoka initially took control with an 8-4 lead. The Indian fought back to draw level at 9-9 before taking a slender one-point lead at the break.

The Japanese player moved ahead 14-12, but Srikanth then produced a decisive run of seven successive points to surge ahead 19-14 and wrap up the first game.

After the change of sides, Naraoka bounced back, keeping Srikanth behind throughout to force a decider.

The third game remained evenly poised until 7-7, when Srikanth pulled away to take an 11-7 lead at the interval.

Naraoka threatened a comeback late in the game, closing the gap to 18-16, but Srikanth stayed composed to finish off the match.

Srikanth has looked in good touch this season, having defeated several top players, including Paris Olympic bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia on his way to the US Open final, before stunning world No. 9 Victor Lai of Canada to reach the China Masters Super 750 quarterfinals in September.