Arif leads charge in Lucknow

ARIF Latif led the way as the national back-up shuttlers advanced to the second round of the India Open grand prix gold in Lucknow yesterday.

Arif defeated Robin Gonansa of Singapore 21-14, 21-10 and played Andre Marteen of Indonesia in a late second round tie last night.
Misbun Ramdan Misbun was also through after beating Oscar Bansal of India 17-21, 21-15, 21-18 to play Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand while Goh Soon Huat defeated Sourabh Verma of India 21-19, 21-14 and played another local shuttler Rohit Yadav last night.
Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin also advanced with a 16-21, 21-15, 21-15 win over Mohit Kamat to meet R.M.V. Gurusaidutt, also from India, last night.
Zulfadli Zulkifli was shown the exit after conceding a walkover in the third game against Parianyawat Thongnuam of Thailand. Zulfadli won the first game 21-16, lost the second game 18-21 and was trailing 11-16 in the decider where he conceded the match due to injury.
However, his brother Zulhelmi survived after beating Deephka Khatri of India 21-18, 21-18 and took on third seed Tommy Sugiarto of India yesterday.
In the men's doubles, Chooi Kah Ming-Ow Yao Han played Baptiste Careme-Gaeten Mittelheiser while Lutfi Zaim Khalid-Teo Kok Siang met Wahyu Nayaka Arya-Ade Yusuf of Indonesia late yesterday.

Arif Latif beat Robin Gonansa of Singapore 21-14, 21-10 in the first round of the India Open in Lucknow yesterday.

NST