24 March 2022| It was near perfect day for Indian contingent with almost all who were expected to make it to Quarterfinals didn’t disappoint barring couple of tough losses in Third Seed Chirag Shetty /Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Saina Nehwal who lost after winning the first game
Day started with a shock loss for the Star Indian pairing who were fresh beating the All England Open Champions in the first round, but it didn’t go as per plan and they lost the match 19-21,20-22. This was a great opportunity for the Young pair to go deep in the tournament as the Top Seed Ahsan & Setiawan were already out in the first round.
Moving to Women Singles where we had three in the Pre Quarterfinals but only PV Sindhu could make it to the next round. The second seed Indian faced a stiff challenge from the Turkish Yigit but eventually won 21-19,21-14 to setup a clash with Canadian Michelle Li. It was a heartbreak for Saina Nehwal whom many were expecting to compete with Sindhu in the Semis. Saina won the first game against Kisona from Malaysia who got an entry into the main draw since there were many withdrawals. Kisona who is ranked 64 in the world scored possibly the biggest win of her career by beating Saina Nehwal 17-21,21-13,21-13
Young Ashmita Chaliha was up against the seed eight Kirsty Gilmour from Scotland. The Indian remained in the contest till the very end in both the games but eventually lost on the crucial points. It was 18-18 in the first game but Kirsty won the next three points to win the game. Ashmita took an early lead of 6-0 in the second game but it was close at the business end which Kirsty eventually won 22-20 to close the match.
In Men Singles four Indians were in the fray to compete and all of them made it past this round. The day started with Viktor Axelsen deciding to concede the tie owning to an injury which gave Parupalli Kashyap the spot in the Quarterfinals. Next up was Srikanth Kidambi who was up against a tricky opponent in Christo Popov from France. Indian lost the first game rather tamely 13-21 and was down a match point but made a quick comeback to win the match 13-21, 25-23,21-11. Srikanth will be up against WR3 Anders Antonsen from Denmark in the Quarterfinals. In head to head Srikanth trails 1-3.
HS Prannoy who has been in sublime form of late also started similar fashion and conceded the first game to the Finnish Kalle 19-21. He regrouped pretty well to win the next two quite comfortably to close the match 19-21,21-13,21-9. He faces compatriot Kashyap in a bid to make it to the semifinal
Last of the men to play was Sameer Verma who scored a victory over qualifier from Azerbaijan Ade Dwicahyo 23-21,21-7. He will be up against Ginting from Indonesia who is seeded Third in the tournament in the Quarterfinals
Two Men doubles pair who were up against Seed Two and Four found it very difficult on the court and ended up losing and with that Indian challenge in the men doubles ended.
Qualifier Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek lost to Indonesian pair Alfian and Ardianto 15-21,12-21. The fourth seeded Indonesian had defeated Arjun and Kapila in the first round. Bokka Navaneeth and Sumeeth Reddy who were in the Pre Quarterfinals owing to a walkover from the doubles pair from China were up for a huge challenge and they lost tamely 15-21,14-21 to Malaysian Chia and Soh
Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy the only pair remaining in women doubles had a favourable draw took the opportunity with full hands. In the first round they defeated the local pair convincingly and were up against Qualifiers Li and Wang whom they defeated 21-11,21-18 to setup a clash with Malaysian Hoo and Sien