Srikanth enters quarterfinals in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur: Seasoned Indian badminton player Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters after defeating Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in his second-round match but H S Prannoy bowed out with a straight-game loss here on Thursday.

Srikanth prevailed 23-21, 21-17 in the 59-minute showdown against world

No 33 Nguyen.

In the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals, the duo of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto beat France’s Julien Maio and Lea Palermo 21-17 18-21 21-15.

Prannoy, however, suffered a 9-21 18-21 defeat to Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in his men’s singles pre-quarterfinal match.

In the day’s other pre-quarterfinal matches involving Indian players, Ayush Shetty lost to France’s Toma Popov 13-21 17-21, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran went down to Christo Popov of France

14-21 16-21.

In the women’s doubles Round of 16, Prerana Alvekar and Mrunmayee Deshpande lost to Hsu Yin-Hui and Lin Jhih Yun 9-21 14-21.