Vietnam Open: Sourabh Verma beats Japan's Yu Igarashi to set up men's singles quarterfinals clash with Tien Minh Nguyen

Ho Chi Minh City: A gritty Sourabh Verma dug deep to get the better off Japan’s Yu Igarashi and enter the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Vietnam Open BWF Tour Super 100 tournament here on Thursday. The second seeded Indian edged out Igarashi 25-23 24-22 to set up a quarterfinal clash with local favourite Tien Minh Nguyen. Earlier, Sourabh, who had received a bye in the opening round, had defeated Japan’s Kodai Naraoka 22-20 22-20 in the men’s singles second round.

Sourabh, the reigning national champion, emerged as the lone Indian in the fray following the ouster of Siril Verma and Shubhankar Dey earlier in the day. Siril, who is ranked 97th in the world, stunned top seed and world number 22 Darren Liew of Malaysia 17-21 21-19 21-12 in a second round duel. But the Indian could not get past China’s Lei Lan Xi in the pre-quarterfinals, going down 12-21 15-21 in a one-sided contest. The third seeded Shubhankar Dey had also suffered a 11-21 17-21 defeat at the hands of unseeded Malaysian Jia Wei Tan. India’s campaign also ended in the men’s doubles event after the pair of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla lost 13-21 11-21 to top seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han of Chinese Taipei.