Gutta-Diju in pre-quarters, Anand out in singles first round
By IANSTuesday, August 24, 2010
PARIS - India’s Jwala Gutta and V. Diju moved into the pre-quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event in the World Badminton Championships with a clinical 21-19, 21-8 victory over Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia here Tuesday.
The Indian pair, seeded ninth, beat the Malaysians, who won the Asian Championship at Delhi in April this year, in 24 minutes at the Pierre de Coubertin stadium.
Jwala and Diju, the first Indian pair to reach the quarterfinals of the World Badminton Championship at Hyderabad last year, next play Lei Yao and Chayut Triyachart of Singapore.
It was, however, the end of road for Jwala’s better half Chetan Anand, who bowed out in the first round of the men’s singles.
Anand, seeded 14th, lost to Singapore’s Ong Zhao Ashton Chen 14-21, 18-21.
Parupalli Kashyap also went down to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailaind 21-14, 14-21, 16-21 in an hour long match.
In the women’s singles, Aditi Mutatkar went down to Japanese Eriko Hirose, seeded 10th, 12-21, 16-21, in the first round Monday.
In women’s doubles, Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded 16th, face Marija Ulitina and Natalya Voytsekh of Ukraine in the second round. They got a walkover in the first round against Smantha Barning and Eefje Muskens of the Netherlands.
In the men’s doubles, Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave face Dorian Lance Jams and Willem Viljoen of South Africa in the second round after having gone past Ola Fagbemi and Jinkan Ifraimu of Nigeria in the first round Monday.
