Sarang stuns 4th seed to enter Turkish Open Badminton quarters

Sarang Lakhanee stunned fourth seed Iztok Utrosa of Slovenia to sail into the men’s singles quarterfinal in the IBB Turkish International Badminton tournament at Istanbul on Friday.

In a well-contested pre-quarterfinal, Nagpur shuttler overcame a late fightback from Utrosa to win the second round match 21-16, 21-19 in 33 minutes. After winning the opening game quite easily, Sarang was leading comfortably by nine points at the beginning of the second game.

However, world No. 108 Slovenian staged a solid recovery to put pressure on Sarang, who committee some unforced errors.

“I let him comeback. After gaining a substantial lead, I was kind of relaxed and then found myself under pressure. He came back from 3-12 down as he had nothing to lose. I am glad I won the final two points to finish the match in straight games,” said Sarang after the match.

Earlier in the day, the 23-year-old Sarang thumped Uzbekistan’s Artyom Savatyugin 21-19, 21-6 in the first round in just 26 minutes.

The trainee of Pullela Gopichand Academy, Sarang will now take on fifth seed Anatoliy Yartsev of Russia for a spot in the semifinal on Saturday.