The World No. 1 and World No.2 men’s singles SU5 were put to the test and had to bring on their “A” game in their quarterfinals matches of the TOTAL BWF World Para-Badminton Championships 2019.

Dheva Anrimusthi survived a scare when he was taken to three games by Chinese Taipei’s Fang Jen-yu 24-26 21-12 21-13, while teammate Suryo Negroho had to dig deep to overcome Japan’s Taiyo Imai 24-22, 10-21 12-21.

Negroho’s win puts him the semifinal against Poland’s Bartlomiej Mroz who got past Singaporean Tay Wei Ming 21-18 21-19.

“We know each other well. We’ve played each other a few times. I had a good plan going in. I did not want to let him lead. The first game was hard because maybe everyone was fresh in the morning so I know I had to focus and be ready in the rallies. I couldn’t rest even for two or three points because I knew he’ll take it away from me,” says Mroz.

The competition was just as intense in the SS6 men’s singles with 2015 World Champion Didin Taresoh of Malaysia battling out against the reigning champion Jack Shepard of England.

“Didin played really well in the first. In the second, Didin still had some fitness in him but I got a good run of points in the second half of the second game which carried me through into the third and I managed to control the game,” said Shephard.

It was another three-game match, this time for Manoj Sarkar when he ousted Vietnam’s Trin Anh Tuan, 21-10 19-21 21-15 in the the men’s singles SL3.

“This was my problem in the second because I tried to finish fast but the opponent is very good. Then the third game, I did not take it easy on him. I remembered my practice and training, the coach telling me to carry on with rallies which are easy because my defence is good. Some of the net shots were just my lucky points,” said Sarkar who will take on countryman and doubles partner Pramod Bhagat in the semifinals.

Other Results

Top seeds in the men’s doubles WH1-2, China’s Qu Zimao/Mai Jianpeng put on a flawless presentation of wheelchair badminton to beat Korea’s Choi Jung Man/Kim Kyung Hoon 21-19-21-13, and set up their finals clash against Kim Jungjun/Lee Dong Seop of Korea.

Manasi Girichandra Joshi and Parul Dalsukhbhai Parmar made it an all-India final in the women’s singles SL3 category. Parmar made easy work of Halime Yildiz of Turkey, 21-6 21-6. Joshi had a slightly harder time but overcame second seed Wandee Kamtam of Thailand, 21-13 21-18.

Yin Menglu/Liu Yutong of China did not even break a sweat to enter the finals when they received a walkover from Japanese top women’s doubles WH1-2 pair Sarina Satomi/Yuma Yamazaki.

Yin and Liu will take on Thailand’s Amnouy Wetwhithan/Sujirat Pookham who got past Ikumi Fuke/Rie Ogura of Japan, 22-20 21-16. “We lost focus a little but managed to overcome that late in the first game. Then we were completely in sync,” said Wetwithan.

Talking Point

“We didn’t feel any pressure. We just played our regular game, maybe even not our highest level.” – Qu Zimao, on his match with Mai Jianpeng against Korea’s Choi Jung Man/Kim Kyung Hoon.

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