Sridhar in semi-finals of German Open GP

Mulheim an der Ruhr, Mar 3 (UNI) Anup Sridhar's fine run in the German Open Grand Prix badminton tournament continued as he sailed into the semi-finals with an upset victory over 11th seed Sung Hwan Park of Korea 15-21, 23-21, 21-17 here.

The world number 49 Indian came back from the brink and took the second game on duece after conceding the first and went on to win the decider and the match in a 49-minute gruelling contest.

Sridhar has had a remarkable streak of upsets so far in the tournament after scraping past qualifier Andreas Adityawarman of Indonesia in the first round.

He first shocked eighth seed Bjoern Joppien of Germany in the second round and then toppled 15th seed Kaspar Oedum of Denmark in the pre-quarters before upsetting Korean Sung Hwan in the round of eight.

Sridhar will now meet top seed and world number one Lin Dan of China for a place in the final. Dan beat Choong Hann Wong of Malaysia 21-14, 21-15 in the quater-finals.

Meanwhile, Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave's heroics also ended as they were thrashed by top seeds Jae Sung Jung and Yong Dae Lee of Korea 9-21, 15-21 in the quater-finals.

The Indian pair had upset seventh seeds Zhendong Guo and He Hanbin of China in the earlier round.

UNI