Sugiarto stuns 'Super Dan'

Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto on Friday earned the prized scalp of five-time World Champion lin Dan, notching up a stunning three-game win over the Chinese legend to reach the semifinals of the India Super Series badminton tournament. Former world no 3, Sugiarto scraped past the two-time Olympic champion 21-17, 15-21, 21-17 in a gruelling match to silence the vociferous crowd who were chanting ‘lin Dan’ ‘lin Dan’ in support of the Chinese star at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

“You know who lin Dan is. He is a legend in badminton. I had lost to him thrice so I had to come up with my best as I know lin Dan’s game,” Sugiarto said still feeling out of breath after battling for an one hour and 18 minutes.   “He is a superstar wherever he goes. The crowd was backing him so I had to motivate myself and concentrate point after point. I am happy, this is one of my best wins,” he added.

Big Indian guns had a fairly good day with Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth winning their respective singles matches and progressing to the semi-finals.

However, it was curtains for HS Prannoy and RMV Gurusaidutt. Olympic bronze medallist, Saina sailed past Indonesia’s Hana Ramadhini 21-15, 21-12 in the women’s singles competition to stay just one win away from becoming the first Indian woman to achieve the world number one ranking.

Reigning world and All England champion, Carolina Marin of Spain also eked out a 21-15, 17-21, 21-15 win over sixth seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara to set up a clash with former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, seeded third.  In men’s singles, world number four Srikanth outwitted Japan’s Takuma Ueda 21-15, 23-25, 21-18 in a hard-fought battle.

Prannoy, who had sent the top seed and world number two Jan Jorgensen of Denmark packing, also conjured up hopes of another upset before falling short against world number six Viktor Axelsen 21-16, 9-21, 18-21.