Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Aditi Bhatt shocked the 13th seed Atitaya Povanon of Thailan while Rohan Gurbani too won his match in the individual event in a otherwise dismal day for India the BWF World Junior Championships in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday.
Aditi and Rohan saved India blushes as other members of the contingent in the fray bade adieu to the championship, some caving in without fight and others battling it out before losing
In girls’ singles, Bhatt’s resilient 14-21, 21-14, 22-20 win over the Povanon was main highlight f the day for the Indian contingent. The Delhi shuttler, after losing the first game, made a strong comeback to complete the upset win in 53 minutes and enter the fourth round.
Up next for Bhatt is the fourth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia.
In boys’ singles, Rohan Gurbani ousted Austria’s Nicolas Rudolf 21-7, 21-16 in just 23 minutes to enter Round 5 and set up a clash with China’s Ren Cheng Ming.
However Tasnim Mir and Trisha Hegde failed to advance further.. The Gujarat girl, Mir lost 13-21, 19-21 to 12th seeded Chinese Taipei ‘s Hung En-Tzu while Trisha went down against Hungary’s 6th seed Vivien Sandorhazi 16-21, 12-21.
In a later match, Unnati Bisht’s campaign also came to an end at the hands of the top seed Phittayaporn Chaiwan 12-21, 7-21.
Satish Karunakaran also bowed out of men’s singles following a 17-21, 12-21 loss to Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong China.
Karunakaran suffered a double setback as his mixed doubles challenge was also cut short. He and Ramya Venkatesh Chickmenhalli lost to Chinese Taipei’s Yu Sheng Po and Tung Ciou-Tong 20-22, 17-21 in Round 2.
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto also crashed out after starting the day with a win. They fought hard in a 59-minute encounter before going down to Indonesia’s top seeds Leo Rolly Carnando and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil 22-20, 16-21, 17-21 in Round 3. The pair had earlier won 21-13, 21-12 over USA’s Winston Tsai and Tammy Xie.
Sankar Prasad Udayakumar and Nafeesah Sara Siraj were also made to bite the dust by second seeds, China’s duo of Feng Yan Zhe and Lin Fang Ling. They lost 9-21, 4-21 in Round 3 after earlier winning against Slovakia’s Jakub Horak and Mia Tarcalova 21-16, 21-17.