Defending champion HS Prannoy eked out a thrilling win over China’s Qiao Bin to enter the quarter-finals of the Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Thursday, PTI reported.
The fifth seeded Indian, who had a 3-1 head-to-head record against his opponent, staved off a stiff challenge from the 10th seeded Chinese 9-21, 23-21, 21-15 in a match that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
World No 23 Prannoy, who had trounced Scotland’s Kieran Merrrilees 21-17, 21-19 on Wednesday, will now meet the winner of the match between China’s Shi Yuqi, who reached the finals at All England last week, and Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.
Iceland International winner Subhankar Dey, who had also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-17 21-18 win over Slovenia’s Iztok Utrosa, found the going tough against Kanta Tsuneyama and suffered a 19-21 14-21 loss to the Japanese in a 42-minute clash.