This article was first published 20 years ago

Arvind Bhat halted in his stride

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Arvind Bhat's irresistible form eluded him against Roman Spitko of Germany in the pre-quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open badminton championships in Kuching on Thursday.

The Indian ace, who caused a major upset earlier in the day toppling world No. 6 Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark, failed to make his giant-killing act count and went down 14-21, 17-21 to the German.

Spitko, who in the process avenged an earlier defeat by the Indian at the Thomas Cup in April, will meet Lee Hyun II of Korea in the quarter-finals.

In the men's doubles, Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave beat Malaysia's Yung Jin and Abdul Rahman Rafiz 21-17, 21-19 to move into the quarter-finals, where they will meet another Malaysian pair of Lin Won Fui and Mohd Fairuzizian.