Rising Indian shuttler Aditya Joshi continued his brilliant run at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2017 as he entered the quarter-finals of this Grand Prix Gold event in Bangkok on Thursday. Joshi put up a convincing performance to beat his elder brother Pratul, 21-19, 21-10 in just 36 minutes.
The 20-year-old will next face local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen for a place in the semi-finals. The Thai upset the 16th seed Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia in the pre-quarter-finals.
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The 138th ranked Joshi is the last remaining Indian at this tournament.
Pratul had beaten Aditya in their last meeting
The two brothers were locked in a hard-fought encounter in the opening game and Aditya managed to edge out the 88th ranked Pratul to bag the opener, 21-19. Having pocketed the first game, he gained in confidence and raced away to victory as Pratul’s game fell apart.
It also helped the youngster to avenge his defeat over his older brother in the final of the 2016 Bahrain International Challenge last October.
Joshi, who hails from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, started playing the sport at the age of five and soon started dominating local tournaments. He was a prolific junior and had proved himself in the circuit with consistent results a couple of years ago, that included winning two junior national championships titles. At the age of 17, he created history by becoming the first Indian male shuttler to rise to the pinnacle of world junior rankings.
This year, the youngster gave quite a scare to senior pro, Parupalli Kashyap, at the Premier Badminton League when he took a game off the former World No. 6 during the league encounter between the Awadhe Warriors and the Chennai Smashers.
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Combining attack with defence efficiently, he looked very much on the verge of causing a big upset before losing his way towards the end.
That performance gave a sign that Joshi is primed for big things on the international circuit. He has brought that same courage to the Thailand Masters this week and held his nerve impressively to upset the fourth seed and World No. 19 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the second round.
