Taipei: Young Indian shuttlers Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda continued their impressive run at the Taipei Open Super 300 badminton tournament, advancing to the quarterfinals of the men’s and women’s singles events respectively here on Thursday.
Ayush, 20, a 2023 World Junior Championships bronze medallist, overcame senior pro Kidambi Srikanth 21-16 15-21 21-17 in a hard-fought second-round clash.
Srikanth, a former world No. 1 and silver medallist at the 2021 World Championships, is currently ranked 82nd in the world. The rising Indian, who had stunned All England Championships runner-up Lee Chia Hao in the previous round, showed maturity beyond his years to close out the contest. He will next face Canada’s seventh seed Brian Yang in the last-eight stage.
Earlier, Unnati, the 2022 Odisha Masters and 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters champion, made short work of Chinese Taipei’s Lin Sih Yun, winning 21-12 21-7 in just 27 minutes.
The 17-year-old Indian will take on local shuttler Hung Yi-Ting in the quarterfinals.
However, it was the end of the road for Tharun Mannepalli.