Srikanth stuns Naraoka, Lakshya ousts Dong to enter quarterfinals at Kumamoto Masters

KUMAMOTO, JAPAN Veteran shuttler Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen progressed to the men's singles quarterfinals with contrasting wins at the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday. Former World No.1 Srikanth, a 2021 world championships silver medallist, stunned fifth seed and world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 to set up a clash with another local shuttler Koki Watanabe, the world No.

15. It was Srikanth's first win in five meetings against the two-time World Championships silver medallist. Placed at the other half of the draw, the eighth-seeded Lakshya, who won the Hylo Open in Germany, defeated Dong Tian Yao of China 21-8, 21-14 to reach the last eight.

He will face Japan's Yushi Tanaka next at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. World No. 13 Lakshya is currently 10th in the BWF World Tour rankings and needs to break into the top eight to qualify for the season-ending tournament in China.