Sri Lanka’s badminton sensation Viren Nettasinghe reached the pre-quarter-final stage of the Crown Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2024, in Saipan, Northern Marianas Islands.
The top seed recorded straight-set wins on his way to reach the top 16 after defeating Japan’s Keisuje Fujiwara in the Round of 32 after handing a straight-set defeat to Hsin Tse Tu of the Chinese Taipei in the Men’s Singles Tournament.
Nettasinghe had little opposition from Fujiwara as he cruised to an easy 21-7 win in the first set. But the Japanese shuttler showed some improvement in the second setter before Nettasinghe nailed the game 2-0 with a set score of 22-20.
Earlier, in the second round, Nettasinghe outplayed Chinese Taipei’s Tse Hu 2-0 after recording set wins of 21-7 and 21-6.
The first Sri Lankan athlete to directly qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024, received a bye in the first round after earning the top seed position of the tournament.
He will now meet Malaysia’s Justin Hoh, the fifth-seed player of the tournament, in the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals of the Men’s Singles will take place on July 5 followed by the semi-finals the next day culminating in the gold medal matches on July 7.
(dailymirror)
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