Top seed Sriram crashes out

Unseeded Prasad Naik also brought about a major upset as he scalped third seed Kunal Solanki in another men’s singles’ fourth-round encounter.Naik gave indications of an upset after winning the first game 21-16. But a solid display by the match favourite saw Solanki reverse scores to draw level.

The decider was a thrilling see-saw battle with the unfancied Naik pipping Solanki at the post with a 27-25 win.

Another seeded player to crash out of the fourth round was tenth seed George Joseph who again went down in a three-game affairto PG Kelkar — 10-21, 21-12, 21-15.

Most of the other men’s seeds faced little problems in their fourth round matches. Fourth seed Rohit Choudhary and seventh seed Nishant Kulkarni were the only seeds to drop a game before advancing.

The boys singles quarter-final held no surprises as the favourites breezed through. In a significant tie, Ankur Mahajan overcame a spirited challenge from unseeded Dhruv Lakhani. The ONGC-sponsored eighth seed Ankur, managed to thwart his unfancied opponent’s attacks with a thrilling 22-24, 21-19, 18-21, 21-10 21-12 victory for a semi-final berth.

Mumbai’s Chandni Ashar caused some ripples by storming into the girl’s singles semi-finals. The 14-year-old shocked fifth seed Neha Sidhaye in a marathon, winning 21-11, 19-21, 21-18, 22-24, 22-20.

RESULTS

Men’s Singles (Fourth Round): 15-Bijal Desai bt Jigar Rambhie 21-9, 21-9; 14-Nilesh Limaye bt Abhitsen Vartak 21-19, 21-10; 5-Mahendra Chiplunkar bt Irfan Shaikh 21-13, 21-07; 4-Rohit Choudhary bt James Joseph 21-19,21-5, 21-11; 7-Nishant Kulkarni bt Aditya Mahagaokar 20-21, 24-22, 21-12; 9-Upendra Mulye bt Sameer Saralkar 21-19, 21-11; 13-KK Rai bt 1-S Sriram 21-18, 17-21, 21-11, 14-21, 24-26

Boys Singles (QF): 8-Ankur Mahajan bt Dhruv Lakhani 22-24, 21-19, 18-21, 21-10, 21-12; 3-Mitesh Puranik bt Sushant Kulkarni bt 21-11, 21-16, 21-7; Kalpesh Mohite bt Ashish Patankar 21-10, 21-12, 21-10; Aniket Bendre bt Tejas Shekhar 21-14, 24-21, 21-19; 5-Shashank Juvekar bt Gunjan Wagle 21-11, 21-17, 21-17; 4-Eric Fernandes bt Vasjit Mehta 21-19, 21-18, 21-18; 2-Swapnil Joshi bt Amol Pandit 21-12, 17-21, 21-13, 21-8; 1-Aditya Mahagaokar bt Aditya Tawde 21-17, 21-9, 21-5

Girls Singles (QF): 1-Mallika Parekh bt Shivali Nayak 21-15, 21-9, 21-8; 7-Amruta Joshi bt Rujuta Rege 21-10, 21-14, 21-10; 4-Mamta Prabhu bt Neha Arora 21-5, 21-8, 21-15; 8-Adithi Jagannathan bt Ruhi Chawla 21-17, 21-12, 21-15; 6-Deepali Jhaveri bt Ashwini Mokashi 21-14, 21-12, 21-9; Janhavi Deshpande bt Vardha Bal 21-14, 19-21, 21-19, 21-15;2-Shalmali Inamdar bt Manasi Abhyankar 21-15, 21-18, 21-18; Chandni Ashar bt 5-Neha Sidhaye 21-11, 19-21, 21-18, 22-24, 22-20.