Taipei Open: Karunakaran, Subramanian in quarterfinals

India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Sankar Subramanian reached the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Taipei Open badminton tournament but women’s singles players had to deal with disappointment here on Wednesday.

In men’s singles, Karunakaran was made to work hard for a win but he eventually prevailed over Kantaphon Wangcharoen from Thailand 24-22, 23-21 to make the quarterfinals.

Subramanian also had to toil but the Indian shuttler got the better of his Finnish opponent Joakim Oldorff, winning his round of 16 match 21-12, 19-21, 21-11. In another round of 16 men’s singles contest, Kiran George was in the lead when he won the first set against Indonesia’s Yohanes Saut Marcellyno but the latter fought back to win the contest 15-21, 21-8, 21-16. Meanwhile, Indian players had to deal with disappointment in women’s singles as three of them lost in the quarterfinals to crash out of the tournament.