Ayush, Dhruv-Tanisha enter Macau round sixteen

Chennai

Indian shuttlers had mixed results at the Macau Open Super 300 on Wednesday. Seventh seed Ayush Shetty moved into the round of 16 after a straight-games win over Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu Kai. Ayush, who recently won the US Open, won 21-10, 21-11 in just 31 minutes. He will now play Malaysia’s Justin Hoh, who defeated India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran.

In mixed doubles, the fifth-seeded pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto put on a strong show. They beat Thailand’s Ratchapol Makkasasithorn and Nattamon Laisuan comfortably 21-10, 21-15 to reach the round of 16.

However, other Indians did not fare well. In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda, who had reached the quarterfinals at the China Open, lost a close match to Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen. Unnati started well but lost her lead and the match in three games. Aakarshi Kashyap was beaten by former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight games. Tasnim Mir also lost to Olympic gold medallist Chen Yu Fei in just 27 minutes.

In other mixed doubles action, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde lost to Wu Guan Xu and Lee Chia Hsin of Chinese Taipei 22-20, 21-17.

Meanwhile, in an all-Indian men’s doubles match, Pruthvi Roy and K Sai Pratheek beat Dingku Singh Konthoujam and Amaan Mohammad 21-18, 21-19.

HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, and others are set to play later in the day.