Youth Olympics silver medallist H S Prannoy led the country’s charge in the Yonex Japan Open Super Series as three Indian men’s singles players reached the quarterfinal stage in Tokyo on Thursday.
Prannoy upset world number six Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-14, 13-21, 21-17 in the men’s singles second round to set up a last eight clash with China’s Huan Gao.
Also joining him in the last eight stage were Thailand Grand Prix Gold winner K Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram.
Srikanth hammered local boy Kozai Kazuteru 21-12, 21-16 while Ajay got the better of Yuichi Ikeda 21-13, 11-21, 21-18.
In the quarterfinals, Srikanth will face seventh seed Kenichi Tago of Japan while Ajay will take on fifth seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam.
Anand Pawar was the only Indian men’s singles player to bow out on Thursday. The Mumbai boy came up with an inspiring performance but failed to upset world number one Lee Chong Wei. He lost 21-12, 21-16.
While the men had a good outing, women’s singles eighth seed P V Sindhu suffered a reversal when she went down 21-6, 21-17 against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi.
