India’s title hopes in the Canada Grand Prix badminton tournament will now rest on their doubles combinations after the singles challenge ended abruptly in the pre-quarterfinals in Calgary on Thursday.
Defending men’s doubles champions Manu Atri and B Sumeeth Reddy and the mixed doubles combination of Prannav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy registered contrasting wins to reach the quarter-finals but it was curtains for pre-tournament favourite HS Prannoy in men’s singles and G Ruthvika Shivani in the women’s event.
Atri and Reddy, seeded third, got the better of Korea’s Choi Solgyu and Jae Hwan Kim 21-17, 17-21, 21-13 while Chopra and Sikki Reddy defeated the Dutch pair of Robin Tabeling and Cheryl Seinen 21-11, 21-17.
The men’s combination will now face another Korean combination of Kim Won Ho and Seung Jae Seo. In the mixed event, second seeds Chopra and Sikki Reddy will take on Kim Won Ho and Shin Seung Chan.
Earlier, India’s singles players had a disappointing outing with second seed Prannoy going down 17-21, 21-14, 21-13 against Jeon Hyeok Jin of Korea.
In women’s singles, Ruthvika Shivani fought back from 16-9 deficit in the decider against second seed Aya Ohori of Japan but failed to complete the turn around and lost 21-13 17-21 21-19 in 55 minutes.