Gadi-Asuncion makes US Open quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines - Toby Gadi and Kennevic Asuncion hacked out a tough 21-16, 21-19 decision over Taiwanese Yu Hsien Lin and Chia Hsin Wan to barge into the quarterfinal round of the Yonex US Open men’s doubles in Los Angeles, USA Wednesday.

Gadi, the five-time Open champion of the PBaRS (Philippine Badminton Ranking System) circuit back home, continued to complement well with Asuncion as they rolled to their second straight victory to remain in the hunt in the BWF (Badminton World Federation) Grand Prix Gold B tournament.

The Phl duo, whose campaign is backed by Ateneo University and the Golden Shuttle Foundation, earlier needed an extra set before subduing the US tandem of Phillip Chew and Sattawat Pongnairat, 21-11, 20-22, 21-8.

They, however, will have their hands full as they go for a semifinal berth against the fourth seeded tandem of Yoshiteru Hirobe and Kenta Kazuno of Japanese.

Hirobe and Kazuno trounced Sirachai Phapuchara and Siraroj Phapuchara, 21-12, 21-12, then trampled Canada’s Andrew D’Souza and Sergiy Shatenko, 21-6, 21-8.

Earlier, Gadi, also the reigning Philippine National Games titlist, bowed to top seed Takuma Ueda of Japan, 21-14, 21-6, in the men’s singles.

Asuncion, a veteran internationalist, has been helping Gadi gain international exposure the way he did when he partnered with Karen Velez in annexing the mixed doubles crown in the recent Maldives International Badminton Championship.