NEW DELHI: India’s Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat went down to Malaysian opponents in the men’s singles quarter-finals of Macau Open badminton tournament
on Friday.
Chetan, seeded seventh, lost to top seed Lee Chong Wei 10-21, 14-21.
National champion Arvind Bhat fought hard but eventually ran out of steam, losing a gruelling quarter-final against Choong Hann Wong to crash out of the event.
Arvind, seeded 10th, came from behind to pocket the second game but run out of steam in the end to go down 19-21, 21-18, 6-21 to fourth seed Malaysian Choong in a 52-minute battle.
Choong grabbed 29 smash points and 17 net winners compared to Arvind’s 16 and eight respectively.
The Malaysian opened a six point lead at 6-0 and even though Arvind came back to lead at 7-6, Choong held his nerve in crucial moments and marched ahead with four straight points to eventually seal the game.
The Indian bounced back in the second game and after being 18-18, raced away with three crucial points to make it 1-1.
In the decider, however, Arvind run out of steam against the world number 13 Malaysian.
Chong Wei will face Indonesian Taufiq Hidayat while Choong will take on second seed Jin Chen in the semifinals of the Grand Prix Gold event on Saturday.
