Lucknow: Malaysia’s Soo Tech Zhi suffered a straight set defeat in the 2019 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships quarter-finals on Friday when the 24-year-old Malaysian succumbed to a 19-21, 12-21 loss to No. 8 seed Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan in 45 minutes.
Wang will face Son Wan Ho of Korea next.
The No. 7 seed Son, on the other hand, outlasted India’s No. 3 seed Kidambi Srikanth 21-18, 21-19 to advance to the final four.
Meanwhile, India’s Sourabh Verma kept the Indian challenge alive in men’s single when he emerged victory over Thailand’s three-time World Junior Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-19, 21-16. Verma will meet Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee in the semi-finals.
In women’s singles, the Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin who has been on a roll since coming back from a serious knee injury by winning the China Open title on September, 2019, overcame Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia in a one-sided quarter-final encounter.
The Spaniard got off to strong start from the get-go as she quickly raced to a 5-1 lead in her encounter with Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the first set before finishing up the first game 21-13.
Kosetskaya put up some good resistance in the second set as she rallied from 10-16 to narrow the gap at 14-16. However, at 17-16, Marin reeled off four consecutive points to win the game 21-16 to enter the semi-finals.
Marin will battle Korean player Kim Ga Eun in the semi-final.
