Little-known Siddharth Pratap Singh seized the opportunity to create a flutter and knocked out sixth seed Xiaodong Sheng in straight games for a place in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the $75,000 Odisha Open badminton at Cuttack on Wednesday.
On a day when some of the more illustrious players saw their comeback end in the second round, Siddharth performed far better than his World ranking of 138. He ousted the 72nd-ranked Canadian citizen 21-17, 21-4 in 27 minutes.
Lacking form, fitness
Not long ago, Neha Pandit, Ruthvika Shivani and R. M. V. Gurusaidutt were among the champions in the National-ranking events. But, on this day, the trio exited lacking form, fitness and the necessary drive.
Neha, a replacement for Saina Nehwal at the top of the draw, ran out of steam and lost in 55 minutes to Smit Toshniwal 20-22, 21-18, 10-21.
Ruthvika, the 2016 South Asian Games champion, lasted just 22 minutes on the court against Ananya Praveen, losing 12-21, 8-21.
Gurusaidutt lasted only 22 minutes against Kaushal Dharmamer, who raced to a 21-13, 21-17 victory.
