New Delhi: Indian shuttler Rounak Chouhan advanced to the men’s singles main draw of the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament after Myanmar’s Hein Htut retired midway through their qualification match in Macau on Tuesday.
Chouhan fought back after losing the opening game to take the next two, with the score reading 14-21, 21-15, 19-17 in his favour when Htut was forced to retire.
The Indian will now face Chinese Taipei’s Zhe Ying Wu, ranked 133rd in the world, in the Round of 32 on Wednesday.
However, it was a disappointing day for the other Indian players in the qualification rounds.
Tushar Suveer bowed out of the men’s singles event after suffering a 20-22, 13-21 defeat to Indonesia’s Christian Adinata.
Earlier, Alap Mishra also exited the tournament after losing 18-21, 18-21 to Hein Htut in the qualification stage.
In women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam failed to progress after going down 10-21, 8-21 to Indonesia’s Amallia Prativ and Siti Fadia Ramadhanti.
Chouhan now remains India’s lone qualifier from Tuesday’s qualifying action and will look to continue his run in the main draw of the BWF Super 300 event.
