Urmi Akhter of Bangladesh reached the women’s singles pre-quarterfinal of the women’s singles in the Yonex-Sunrise Bangladesh International Challenge Badminton Tournament beating her Malaysian rival Maisha by 2-1 sets on the 2nd day of the meet at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

Urmi, who won the bronze medal in the just concluded 13th SA Games in Nepal, went down in the race losing the first set by 13-21 points, but strongly returned to the match by winning the 2nd set by 21-17 points and snatched victory beating her rival by 25-23 points in the match-deciding 3rd and final sets, after making tie on two occasions.

Earlier on Tuesday, Urmi qualified for the final round as she got walkover against her Thai opponent Atitaye Provanon, who withdrew her name from the meet.

Gourab Singha, who reached the 2nd round of the meet beating Hossain Jayan of Maldives by 2-1 sets on Tuesday, miserably eliminated from the meet on Wednesday , after suffering a humiliating 7-21, 6-21 points defeat against Adil Ali Sadikin of Malaysia.

Famed shutters Elina Sultana, who advance to the final round beating Rashed Masha of the Maldives by straight 2-0 sets, made her early exit from the meet, losing to Malvica of India by 7-21, 10-21 points on Wednesday.  

In the mixed doubles, Bangladesh pair Gourab Singh and Urmi Akhter were also eliminated from the meet losing to Thai partners by 12-21, 13-21 points while another Bangladesh pair Al Amin Jumma and Dulali Halder made their early exit losing to another Thai partners by 14-21 and 8-21 points.