Sukant seeks revenge; enters QF

Pune: Second seeded Sukant Kadam of India exacted revenge over Shin Kyung Hwan (korea) to storm into the quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles SL-4 event in the ongoing BWF Para World Badminton Championship 2022 at Tokyo, Japan.

Having shared an even-battle in the past, Pune-based Sukant went into the last-16 round in Tokyo having lost his immediate-past encounter to the Korean tree years ago. The last meeting between both was during the 2019 Thailand Para Badminton International where Hyung won a three-game 40-minute battle.

Aware of the challenge, World No.3 Sukant, on Thursday, ensured that it was his day and carved out a 21-15, 21-15 win in just 28 minutes to even out the looming 1-2 head-to-head record he had against the Korean World No. 11.

Sukant’s win was his second against the Korean in four career face-offs which also led levelling his H2H to 2-2. Earlier, the Korean won their first first-ever meeting at the 2016 Asian Para-Badminton Championship, and later in the 2018 VII Spanish Para-Badminton International it was Sukant who topped.

“He (Hyung) is a good player. The kind of close encounters we have played before were close and well fought. Today’s win in Tokyo gives me confidence in the hard-work that I have put into the lead up to the tournament,” Sukant informed.

Sukant next plays Chee Hiong Ang (Indonesia) in the last-8 round.

Earlier, Sukant qualified for the main draw by topping Group-B and remaining unbeaten with wins over Hassan Mubiru (Uganda) 21-2, 21-4 and Van Thuong Nguyen (Vietnam) 21-9, 21-10.

RESULT

Sukant Kadam (India) bt Shin Kyung Hwan (South Korea) 21-15, 21-15

Group-B, Round Robin

Rd-1: bt Hassan Mubiru (Uganda) 21-2, 21-4

Rd-2: bt Van Thuong Nguyen (Vietnam) 21-9, 21-10