Mannepalli leads Indian charge into quarters in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City: Tharun Mannepalli emerged as the standout Indian singles player as he along with two doubles pairs progressed to the quarterfinals at the Vietnam Super 100 tournament here on Thursday.

While Tharun Mannepalli produced a commanding performance to defeat Finland’s Joakim Oldorff 21-7 23-21 and emerge as the lone Indian player in singles competition.

In mixed doubles, top-seeded Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath demonstrated strong control to outwit Taiwan’s Chen Cheng Kuan and Hung Yu-En 21-18 21-11.

Sixth-seeded pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto exhibited their dominance with a 21-9 21-7 win over compatriots Bokka Navaneeth and Ritika Thaker.

However, it turned out to be a tough day for the rest of the Indians.

In men’s singles, Bharat Raghav lost 12-21 18-21 to China’s Wang Zheng Xing, while Alap Mishra fought valiantly before losing 14-21 22-20 16-21 to Singapore’s Jia Wei Joel Koh. In the women’s singles, Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj went down 18-21 21-23 against Chinese qualifier Dai Wang and Isharani Baruah lost 20-22 17-21 to Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari of Indonesia.

In women’s doubles, the second-seeded pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra fell to Lee Chih Chen and Lin Yen Yu of Chinese Taipei, losing 18-21 and 13-21.