Kidambi Srikanth Stuns World No. 8 Kodai Naraoka to Enter Kumamoto Masters Quarter-finals

: Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen advanced to the men’s singles quarter-finals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament after winning their respective second-round matches on Thursday.
 

Former world No. 1 Srikanth defeated Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, the fifth seed and world No. 8, in a closely contested three-game encounter. The 2021 World Championships silver medallist registered a 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 victory to book his place in the last eight.
 

The win was particularly significant for Srikanth, as it was his first victory over Naraoka in five meetings. He will next face another Japanese player, world No. 15 Koki Watanabe.
 

Lakshya Sen, seeded eighth, also produced a strong performance to reach the quarter-finals. The Indian defeated China’s Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14 in straight games.
 

Sen, who recently won the Hylo Open in Germany, will take on Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in his next match at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.
 

Currently ranked world No. 13, Sen occupies the 10th position in the BWF World Tour rankings. He needs to break into the top eight to qualify for the season-ending tournament scheduled to be held in China.
 

Meanwhile, India’s women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the tournament after losing their pre-quarter-final match. The Indian duo went down 14-21, 14-21 against Japan’s third-seeded combination of Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.