ISKANDAR STORMS INTO INDIAN OPEN SEMIS
Malaysian downs another homester to reach Indian Open semis
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin’s continued his dream run at the Indian Open in New Delhi.
The world No. 86, who started from the qualifying round, stormed into the men’s singles semi-finals yesterday after a classy 21-17, 21-14 win over Sameer Verma of India in 49 minutes.
It was his second success over Sameer in six years after winning at the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold in 2012.
Just a day ago, he pulled off his best career win by disposing of second seed and world No. 3 K. Srikanth of India with a stunning 21-19, 21-17 win in 43 minutes.
It was Iskandar’s best performance since making a return to competitive badminton after a back injury in January last year.
It was also a timely boost for Iskandar ahead of the Asia Badminton Team Championships in Alor Setar, Kedah, from Feb 6-11.
He will be playing in the third singles in the Asian meet that serves as the qualifier for the Thomas Cup Finals in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 20-27.
Iskandar, once ranked world No. 21 in 2015, take on China’s Shi Yuqi for a place in the final. He has lost to Shi Yuqi once – at the 2016 French Open.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary Datuk Ng Chin Chai was happy to see Iskandar progress under head coach Datuk Misbun Sidek.
“It’s good to see the revival of Iskandar at the Indian Open. His performance has come at the right time ahead of the Asia Team championships,” said Chin Chai, who is also the team manager for the Asian meet.
“His performances have given a boost to the men’s singles, we hope that he’ll keep up the good showing.”
Meanwhile, it was all over for Goh Soon HuatShevon Lai Jemie when they crashed out 11-21, 19-21 to He Jiting-Du Yue of China in the quarter-finals yesterday. It was their third defeat to the Chinese pair.